You Stole My Heart, He Stole My Memory
by MadeByRF
Summary: Prequel to Mr. Smith. 10 year old Bella moves to Alaska and meets Edward. What will happen to them during her stay there and how will Edward's and Bella's relationship develop through the years?. Human. R
1. Moving to a faraway place

**WARNING: Please read Mr. Smith before you read this fan fiction, this is a prequel to Mr. Smith. **

**Chapter 1: Moving to a far-away place**

**BPOV**

_**September**_

"Here we are!" Renée exclaimed excitedly and looked at me from the front seat. I gave her a smile as happy as I could make it and looked out the window. _Alaska_. This is the place where my parents had decided that we we're moving to. The street had a few houses on it, not many, and there were mountains in the background. The green pines were everywhere, but it was much like my hometown, Forks, except for the mountains that is. We have moved to a small town near the nature reservation Denali, and even though my mother didn't like the cold weather like my father, we decided to move here.

I got out of the car and followed my dad into the house. It was empty (which wasn't a surprise), and the look of the pale, empty walls were somehow depressing. Charlie turned around, and he had a goofy smile on his face.

"You like it Bells?" he asked and walked over to me. As I had done to Renée, I smiled the best smile I could and nodded. His smile slightly grew, which was unusual. He rarely smiled, but when he did, it was small. He took my hand, and began to drag me up the stairs.

"Where are we going?" I asked with both curiosity and nervousness.

"Don't you want to see your room?" he asked when we we're upstairs and walked over to one of the doors. I looked at it, and then at my dad who stood beside it. He opened the door and I stepped inside. The room was very much like my old room, except it was slightly bigger. Charlie stood in the doorway as I looked at my new room for the first time.

"This is great Cha- dad." I said with my back turned to him, looking out the window at the street outside. I saw how Renée struggled with a cardboard box, and was just about to tell Charlie that he should go down and help her, when she called on him herself.

"Charlie! Can you help me?" She yelled, stumbling her way to the door. I heard how Charlie ran down the stairs and how Renée sighed with relief when he took the box from her. I sighed too, but not for the quite same reason. I liked Forks; I had lived there all my life and I had friends there, like Jake. But since dad got this job here, we had to move. And now, here we were; in the middle of nowhere, one day from my birthday. But even though I was disappointed about this decision my parents had made, I wasn't going to sulk. A wasn't going to me mad, sad, or anything else for that matter. I was just going to except it.

***Later, after dinner***

Our kitchen was the only thing finished and unpacked area of the house, and I thanked Renée whole heartedly for the dinner as she cleared the table.

"You're welcome honey."She smiled at me and then turned her back to me and began to clean the plates. Charlie was looking with me with a sly smile, and I turned my head into his direction, frowning.

"What??" I asked, wondering what his strange behavior was all about.

"Oh, nothing at all."He said, which didn't say anything except the opposite. I groaned mentally as I feared the worst. I really hoped they wouldn't make my birthday such a big deal…

"Okay. Can I help you with the dishes mom??" I began to stand up and walk over to the sink, but she quickly protested.

"No, no, no! It's okay, I'll do it."She told me and laughed…which made her loose her concentration on what she was doing, and she dropped the plate she was holding in her hand. It crashed down in the floor, breaking into pieces. She gasped and then kneeled down to pick it up, but before she could do anything worse, Charlie acted and began to pick them up carefully. I sighed at my mother, who looked highly embarrassed.

"I'm sorry, I'll clean it up. You don't have to do that Charlie." She began to stretch after a piece, but he motioned her to stay away.

"Renée it's okay, I'll do it." he said, and then continued his cleaning. Renée sighed, and was just about to object once again, but she stopped herself before it came out from her mouth, and then smiled at her husband.

"Alright then." She kissed him on his neck, and then walked out of the room into the living room. I gave dad one thankful look; neither of us thought it was a good idea that Renée was trying to pick that up, and then walked up the stairs to my room. It wasn't that she was clumsy (like me), but sometimes her actions weren't the smartest.

I closed the door after me and went up to the window. The sun had gone down almost completely now, and the darkness was filling up the streets. I looked at them with boredom, and some slightly hate. I didn't like moving here. I couldn't deny it. But even though I didn't like it, I wasn't going to show it towards my parents.

I continued to look at the abandoned street, when a sudden silhouette appeared. I watched as a boy, probably around my age walked up the street. He walked over to one of the trees on the side of the road and sat down, his back against the trunk. I don't know what it was, but something drew me to him. Something made me want to go closer to him. I put on a warm sweater and practically ran down the stairs...which made me trip on the last step and almost had me crashing down to the floor, but somehow I managed to stay up.

"Whoa, take it easy there Bells." Charlie commentated from the sofa as I stumbled my way to the hall to get my shoes.

"I'll go outside for a moment, is that okay??"I asked as I grabbed my shoes. There was a small pause before he answered.

"Eh, sure honey, just don't be out too long, okay??" He asked, and as soon as I had the okay, I put my shoes on and headed for the door.

"Sure, I don't think I'll be gone for long." I said, and then opened the door. "Bye." I called quickly before I closed it after me, and then half-walked, half-ran to the place where I had seen the boy.

The street was silent, which wasn't very strange since there are only a few houses on it. The tree where the boy sat was in the large area between the two houses opposite of our house. When I was almost there, I slowed down to a walk. I saw the tree now. It was a tall pine, and now I saw his legs. I slowed down even more, and sneaked around the corner to see his face.

There he was, the boy I had seen before. His eyes were closed, and his breathing was slow and even, like he was sleeping. I was just about to take another step, when I somehow tripped (probably on my own feet) and went crashing towards the ground. I gasped as I fell, and the luck I had earlier today when I ran down the stairs was gone, and I fell flat on the ground. I winced as I hit the ground, and rubbed my face where I had hit it. Then, I remembered the boy, sitting right next to me. I turned my head to his direction, and just as I had expected, his eyes were now open, and he was staring at me.

I blushed and looked away, and began to stand up. The boy stood up too, and he got up faster than me. He went over to where I was lying and held out a hand. I took it gratefully, and got up too. We stared at each other for a small moment, and this was when I really noticed him. The boy who was standing in front of me had reddish brown hair and green eyes that you could drown in. He looked like he was about my age. He was very beautiful, more beautiful than any other person I had seen in my life.

"Hello, I'm Edward. I live down the street. What's your name?" he asked and his eyes sparkled with excitement and curiosity.

"I-I-I'm B-B-B-Bella." I was able to choke up. He looked at me with a friendly smile. I felt highly embarrassed that he had caught me spying on him, but he didn't seem to care about it really.

"Hi Bella. Are you new around here?" he asked. I nodded shyly as an answer. He smiled a dazzling smile at me.

"Were do you live?" he asked.

"Over there." I told him and pointed at the small, green house. "We just moved here today."

"If you want, you can come to my house." he offered, smiling friendly at me. His eyes, they were almost hypnotic as they stared at me. It made me forget that I had just met him, and excitement filled me too.

"Okay." I grinned at him. Then he took my hand and started running.

"Come on Bellie, this way!" His excitement was kind of contagious, but my common-sense kicked in, and I stopped the running. He dropped my hand, and stopped as well, looking confused.

"What is it?? You don't want to come??"His face fell slightly as he questioned my action. I blushed again. I didn't want to hurt his feelings, but following him to his house might not me the best thing to do.

"Well, I do but…But I don't know anything about you, except your name."I said, frowning at him. His unhappy face now smiled; glad that it wasn't because I didn't like him or something (which is a little weird, since I've only known him for about 5 minutes.).

"Oh, I'm sorry, how rude of me. Well, I'm-"He began, but the sound of a speeding car interrupted him. A very old car, looking like it was ready to collapse any minute, stooped with a shriek in front of us, and a bunch of drunken teenagers with loud music pumping in the stereo sat in it. They we're all cheering and laughing, calling us things. But I didn't really listen. They soon disappeared, leaving us there. Edward glared at the car as it disappeared, and then sighed.

"Here, I know a place where we can talk." He said, and this time, he actually offered me a choice when he stretched out his hand, offering me to place mine in his. But even though some part of me told me that I shouldn't do it, that it could be dangerous, there was also a part within me that longed to know who this boy was. I placed my hand in his, and giggled as he dragged me off to this 'place'.

We ran to the woods, entering a trail that began in the curve of the street. We ran, giggling as I lost my balance, but he steadied me every time. After some time, we slowed down to a walk, breathing hard from all the running. But when we reached our destination, I was speechless. It was a small field filled with grass, and in the middle of it a lake ran. Large trees were surrounding it, and the lights from the lampposts gone made it even more spectacular.

"This…this is beautiful…" I murmured, looking around. The sun was now completely down, and you could see the stars in the sky clearly.

"I found it a few weeks ago…I haven't shown anyone, except you that is." Edward walked into the field, his eyes on the river. He sat down on a rock beside it, and I followed his example. That was how our friendship began. Edward told me everything about him that I could possibly want to know (and not know), and I told him about me, why I moved here, where I was living before, about my family, and so on. We just talked, and talked and talked…

Then, I just gave my clock a small glance, and it made me jump into the air.

"This late?! Charlie will kill me!" I yelled out loud, feeling how the panic hit me like a punch in the gut.

"Let's get you back then. Well…if you promise me we'll meet again."He said, and his face grew serious. But he didn't really have to make me promise this. I would meet him again, I knew I would. I had a feeling he would search the street until he found me (which is a little unnecessary, since I told him where I lived). But even so, I _wanted_ to meet him again.

"I promise." I looked him in the eye as I promised, answering honestly. He smiled, pleased that his blackmailing had worked, and took my hand to show me the way back.

***Later***

We walked the trail back, and before he let me run back he gave me a hug.

"It was nice to meet you Bella. Next time we meet, you can come to my house can't you? Since you know me now, I mean." He said, and smiled a crooked smile. I smiled back, and nodded.

"I guess I can."

"Well, goodnight then Bella." He bowed slightly, making me giggle, and then turned around and began to walk away.

"Goodnight." I called after him, and then ran back to my house. When I entered, I was greeted by a worried, but now relieved Renée.

"Oh Honey! I was so worried about you! Where were you?!" She cried as she hugged me and I hugged her back.

"I'm sorry mom, and dad. I was just meeting a friend."I said, and Charlie, who hadn't been as worried as her, raised an eyebrow.

"A friend?? Who??" he asked, and it sounded almost like he thought I couldn't make friends.

"Edward. Edward Cullen. He's my age and he lives down the road." I told them, giving them the short version about the godlike boy I had just met.

"Bells, it's great that you're making friends and all, but could you please keep the time a little better?? You had us worried."Charlie frowned, and I hugged him to, which he stiffly replied.

"I'm sorry."I apologized, and Renée hugged me tightly once again. Then they finally released me after having a small talk about getting home in time, and I ran back to my room. I brushed my teeth, and then dug a little in one of the moving boxes to find my pajamas, and then I put it on and crawled into bed. No matter how much I tried to relax, I could only think of the emerald green eyed boy I had just met, and that I was going to meet again, soon. Maybe moving here wasn't as bad as I thought…

**Playlist: Decode - Paramore**

**A/N: I Hope you liked it! Please review and tell me what you think! Happy holidays you guys :D //RF**


	2. A Birthday to Remember

**A/N: …I know, I'm the worst updater of all time. I'm sorry for the very, super, ultra, mega late update, but at least it's here. Chapter two of Smith's prequel, I hope you'll like it.**

**Chapter 2: A Birthday to Remember**

_**September**_

"Happy birthday!" Renée and Charlie congratulated me as they woke me up in the morning. I rubbed my eyes, and looked at my overly excited parents. I secretly grimaced when either of them saw, and then sat up in my bed. I wasn't like the other kids. I didn't like birthdays. Birthday meant gifts. I didn't like receiving gifts, like normal people do. I always felt like a spoiled brat whenever my parents decided to get me anything.

"Here you are!" Renée said as she gave me the nicely wrapped box with a cute, red ribbon on top. It was actually so nice I didn't want to open it. I knew that Charlie must've wrapped it; Renée aren't capable of such great work (Sorry mom, but its true).

"Happy 11th birthday." Charlie said in his gruff voice and placed another gift next to Renée's. This one was larger, and more rectangular.

"Come on, what are you waiting for?? Open them!" Renée exclaimed and smiled happily. It was almost like we'd switched parts; she was the excited birthday kid, not me.

I obeyed her request, and took the present from my lap. I didn't shake it like they did in the movies and I didn't rip the paper off forcefully. I took it in my hands carefully, and slowly began to remove the tape from the paper so I didn't have to tear it up. I heard how my parents sighed quietly, not thinking I could hear. They always did that when they thought I acted silly; all grownups did. Like in school back in forks when I didn't want to do the class games that our teacher prepared for us every Tuesday.

"Thank you!" I told them with gratitude as I held up the small silver necklace in my hands. The chain was silver and on it hung a small, blue rock, wrapped in small strings of sliver.

"It's beautiful…" I trailed off in amaze. I couldn't believe they'd gotten this for me; it must've cost a fortune!

Charlie helped me put it on, and I held the small stone in my hands as the chain lingered on my neck.

"You like it??" he asked as I stared at it. I couldn't take my eyes off it; the beauty of it was overwhelming.

"Yes! Thank you so much!" I said and hugged my dad, who awkwardly patted me back.

"When I saw it in the store, it just screamed Bella, so I just had to get it for you." Renée told me smiling, and I gave her a hug too.

"Thank you mom." I told her sincerely and took one last look at the necklace, which made my parents laugh.

"Open the other present too." She urged, and gave me the larger one. Judging by the look of it, and the weight of it, I already knew what it was, but it didn't matter. Just as I had before, I unwrapped the paper of the second gift very carefully, and stared down at the gift.

"Oh, Thank you! This is exactly what I wanted!" I gushed as I looked at the Jane Austen book I had gotten. It was _Pride and prejudice. _I had wanted to read this book forever…

"I thought you might like it." Charlie said quietly and smiled.

The morning continued in the same, wonderful manner. We went down to eat breakfast, and Renée made some pancakes with jam and whipped cream. My parents were really happy, and they smiled a lot. When I was younger and when we lived in Forks, mom didn't smile as much as she did this day. You could see that she tried, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. But now… maybe it was a good thing for her to get a fresh start.

"Dig in!" She exclaimed as she served me my plate full with pancakes. I thanked for the food, and then began to eat. Charlie, who never has liked sweet things, sat on the opposite side of the table with the newspaper in his hands, rummaging through the pages after something interesting with a coffee mug in his hand and a sandwich. He was sometimes very upset when he read the news, and every time he was, mom always told me to go play upstairs. She didn't like when he was mad. She always argument with him about it when she thought I didn't hear, saying stuff like 'don't act like that in front of our child!' and 'don't be such a bad influence on Bella'. But today, nothing seemed to bother him at all. He just read the newspaper with a small smile on his face, and occasionally glanced at me.

"So, what is the birthday kid planning to do today?" he asked as Renée plucked away my empty plate and began to dish it in the sink.

"Actually," I said, avoiding my father's gaze. "I was thinking I could visit Edward. I sort of promised him yesterday." When my father didn't answer, I looked up at him. His eyes were warm and kind and I quietly breathed out the air I had held.

"Sure kid, have fun. Be home by dinner this time, okay?" I nodded eagerly, and he smiled. Then I quickly walked out of the house and out on the street. He said that he lived in the end of this street… I continued to walk down the road, looking at the other houses as I went. Alaska was quite different if you compared to Forks. Forks felt like a small, crowded place in the middle of nowhere. Alaska felt like a wide and spacious place, _still_ in the middle of nowhere. Here, houses were scattered and the streets not that squeezed together in one long lane of houses (not that Forks _was_ very crowded, but if you compared it to this place, it was).

Eventually, the road came to an end, and I looked at the last house. My eyes grew big and my jaw hit the ground. The house in front of me was large, white and absolutely magnificent. It made our house look like a piece of crap. The windows in the house were large and you could see the spacious and luxurious inside of the gigantic castle. I looked at the mailbox, and as promised, on a small metal sign above it said _'The Cullen's_'. I swallowed loudly, and then decided to be bold, and walked over to the door. I rang on the doorbell, and then waited, nervousness running through my whole body. After a few seconds, a tall, beautiful, blond male opened the door. His eyes were brown and soft, and he looked really kind, even though he hadn't even spoken. He looked down on me, and a smile appeared on his beautiful face.

"Oh, hello there. How can I help you?" he asked, and I couldn't help but to gawk a little.

"Is- Is Edward living here?" I asked, and understanding and excitement filled his expression.

"Ah…yes he's here, let me get him for you." The man said, and then disappeared into the house, calling for Edward. It didn't take long before Edward appeared in the doorway, excited and energetic.

"Bellie, you came!" he said, and attacked me with a hug. Not knowing how to react, I slowly patted his back. Even though he surprised me with this weird action, it felt nice. Butterflies appeared in my stomach, and a warm feeling filled my chest. He released me from his hold a few seconds too soon, and then smiled blissfully at me.

"I'm so glad you're here! Please, come in. "He said, and stepped aside to let me in. I quietly thanked him, and got inside. The inside of the house was even more incredible than the outside, and I amazed gawked at their fancy place. I heard a small female giggle, and saw a woman stand in the threshold of another room, wearing an apron. She had a heart shaped face and her hair was caramel colored and slightly curled. She stared at me warmly with her brown eyes, and smiled a perfect smile. She was the ideal picture I had of a perfect mother.

"Hello, nice to meet you. My name is Esme, I'm Edward's mother." She said warmly, her voice soft and feminine.

"I'm Bella." I quietly said, blushing slightly, and I saw how Edward's mother brightened up.

"Well, you're welcome here anytime Bella." She said, and then looked at her son. "Why don't you give her a tour of the house Edward, I'm sure she would want that." She said, and then disappeared into the room behind her. "I'm making cookies, so you can have some later." She called from the room, and I heard scrambling inside. I quickly realized that that was the kitchen, and turned to Edward.

"You like it?" he asked with a grin, and I nodded.

"It's so…big and bright, not like our house." I said, and made a grimace. He laughed, and then took my hand.

"Come on, I'll show you the rest of it." He said with a smile, and then began to show me his maleficent home.

***Later***

Edward showed me all the different rooms in his luxurious house, and I secretly wondered if his father was a millionaire. All the rooms were large and spacious, and the furniture were pricy looking and beautiful. When we reached his father's office, we met the man who had opened the door, and Edward introduced us properly. His name was Carlisle Cullen. He was a doctor, and worked at the hospital in the small town.

"How nice of you to visit us today." He had said from where he sat at his desk, and then went back to his paperwork.

"Do you want to meet my siblings?" Edward asked as we exited Carlisle's office, and I gave him a shy nod. He smiled that crooked smile had yesterday, and took my hand and began to walk towards one of the rooms. He knocked on the door, and a male voice called 'come in' from the inside. He opened it, and we walked inside. The room was pretty large, and you could tell by the look of it that it was a boy's room. Inside, in front of a TV, sat a boy, maybe a little bit older than us. He had brown, curly hair, and was very large to his size, but it was all muscles. He pressed pause in his game, and turned around. His eyes were dark brown, and a large grin was playing on his lips.

"Bella, this is Emmet, my older brother. Emmet, this is Bella. She just moved here from Forks." He said, and Emmet waved as a small greeting.

"Hey." He said friendly, and I gave him a small smile.

"Hi." I responded, and his smile grew. He turned his eyes to his brother, and there was something sly about it.

"Is she your girlfriend?" he asked teasingly, and Edward glared at his brother. I blushed slightly, but said nothing.

"No, she's my friend." Edward said sourly back to him, and then grabbed my hand. "Let's go."

"Nice seeing 'ya." Emmet called after us, and grinned at me. Edward closed the door after us, and then sighed.

"Sorry about that, he can be a little annoying sometimes…" he apologized as we began to walk down the hall together.

"It's alright, it was nice meeting your brother." I gave him a smile, and his frown disappeared from his godlike face, a grin of pure joy replacing it.

Suddenly, a high pitched, girly voice called ahead. "Hey! When are you going to introduce me?" We both looked ahead, and in the stairwell in front of us stood a girl, very petite in her size. She had black, short hair that was pointing out in every direction, and her eyes were golden brown with a hint of yellow in them. Her skin was rather pale, and kind of matched mine in a way.

Edward sighed. "I was, but I feared that you would take her away from me and lock her into your room and do what-not to her." Edward said a little bit sourly, but his mood hadn't puckered that much. He turned to me, and pointed at the small girl in the staircase.

"That's Alice, my sister. She's my sister-"

Alice interrupted him with one eyebrow raised at him. "Your _older_ sister." She said with a smirk, and Edward's face reddened in anger.

"By _one_ month, Alice." He almost hissed the words as he gave his older sister a small glare. Alice rolled her eyes, and then turned her gaze to me. She gave me a dazzling smile, and began to walk down the rest of the stairs.

"Hi there, I'm Alice, Edward's sister." She said politely and took my hand in hers. She was very short I noticed now when she stood here beside me. If she hadn't pointed out that she was his older sister, I would've thought otherwise. But still! Her features are so small…she doesn't look like she's our age at all.

"Eh..Hi, I'm-"I began, but she interrupted me with a smirk.

"Isabella Swan, our new neighbor. It's so nice to finally meet you! I think we're going to be best friends!" she gushed, her face glowing with joy. "Hey, you wanna come and see my room?" she asked excitedly, almost jumping in happiness. She was sure hyper for being so small…

"No Alice, she doesn't want to." Edward told Alice curtly with a big frown on his face.

"You don't know that, she might think it's fun!" Alice said and crossed her arms in front of her, pouting.

"Oh really??" he said and his green eyes moved from Alice to me.

"Bellie, would you like to be tortured by my older sister all day, playing dress up in her room?" he asked and smiled when he saw me reaction. "I didn't think so." He said and smiled wider. "Come on Bellie, I'll show you my room, it's this way!!" he said and grabbed my hand to take me to the stairs. Alice called after us in protest, and I felt kind of bad that I had reacted like I did. Edward glanced at me, and then patted my back soothingly.

"It's okay, you didn't do anything wrong. Besides, Alice will kidnap you there anyway once she gets the opportunity." He said with a grin, and I laughed at his silly words. He was really nice to me, even though we just met yesterday. It was almost surreal to me in a way nice to me. . When my parents first said that we we're moving, I protested. I didn't want to separate from my friends in class, or from Jacob, son to my dad's best friend Billy, or Jacob's Sister Rachel, who also was really friendly. But now when I've met Edward and his really nice family, I think I'll actually like it here.

"Here we are." Edward said which brought me out of my thoughts back into reality. We we're standing in front of a door, furthest away in the hall on the top floor. I looked at him with a slight frown, and he grinned, his emerald green eyes sparkling with joy.

"My room." He said, and then opened it.

**A/N: Dum, dum, dum!... ****or not. I hope you liked it despite its late arrival. Please review!//RF**


	3. The worry of a friend

**Chapter 3: The worry of a friend**

_**October**_

One month has passed since I moved to Alaska. Ever since my birthday, I and Edward have been together every day. That night, the Cullen's invited my parents to their house to dinner, and it became a big party. Both Charlie and Renée became greatly surprised by the luxurious building as I had, and we all enjoyed the rest of that perfect night together. Alaska wasn't as bad as I first thought; it was much, much better…

"Bellie, come on or we'll miss the buss!" Edward called from the hall, and I hurriedly threw down all my notebooks in my backpack and ran down the stairs. Unfortunately, I forgot what running made me do: fall. Three steps from the bottom, I tripped on my own foot, and began to fall towards the floor in high speed. But I didn't hit the ground as I thought would; I hit Edward instead. He had tried to prevent me from falling, but came one second too late. I crashed onto him, and sent us both flying to the floor.

"Ouch…" he groaned beneath me and I blushed in embarrassment. I was lying on top of him, our faces inches away from each other.

"I'm so sorry!" I gushed, and immediately got off him. We both sat up, and I saw how Edward rubbed the back of his head. Our eyes met, and his pained grimace changed to a grin.

"It's okay. Just take it easy next time; you can get hurt." He said, and then rose from the floor and stretched out a hand for me. I gratefully took it, and he helped me up from the ground.

"What's all that noise?" Renée called from the kitchen and entered the hall with a small concerned frown on her face. She was wearing her small apron that she had bought in forks when she was in her baking phase. It passed quickly (like they all do) but at the time, our kitchen was a nightmare. You didn't go near the kitchen unless you really, _really_ needed it. And if she asked you to taste one of her cookies she had made, you ran as fast as your legs could carry you. I was dumb enough to actually eat one of her creations and ended up with food poisoning for the rest of the week.  
Edward grinned at her with one of his special, innocent grins that could get him out of anything, even if he wasn't the one who did it.

"Bella just took a small stumble down the stairs, that's all. She was lucky to fall on me, or she might've been seriously hurt." Renée's eyes wandered to me, and her frown deepened.

"What did I tell you about running down the stairs?" She shook her head to herself and then walked over to me and bent down so or eyes were at the same level. "Just be careful honey, I don't want you to hurt yourself." Then she kissed my forehead and smiled. "Now get going or both of you will be late!"

We both followed her advice and hurried out of the door with our school bags. We walked quickly (since obviously, I can't run) and as we rounded the corner, we spotted the small, silver bus that was waiting by the bus stop. Our school was very small and didn't really have many students so it didn't have a school bus so we had to take the communal one instead. As we approached, I could hear the music that blasted from the poor speakers in the old bus.

We stepped onto the bus and got greeted by the driver –Madanapal. He was an Indian man who had moved to the U.S when he was in his young twenties, and had traveled around the whole country. Madanapal –or "Pal", as we used to call him, was a very funny person. He wasn't like most of the bus drivers in the world –grumpy and mean. He was friendly, talkative and very, very cheerful. He always listened to old Michael Jackson albums and 80's music and often sang along as loud as he could; earning him some laughs and chuckles from the whole bus.

"Hey Edward! Don't come so late, I was worried you wouldn't show up!" he said as he closed the door behind us and began to drive away from the bus stop.

"Sorry, got help up." He said as we sat down at the front seats, and Madanapal immediately let his eyes wander to me.

"Hey Bellie, what did I tell you about running?" he said with a wistful look in his eyes, and I blushed. There was no surprise he knew I had fallen when I had tried to run; under the one month we had known each other, he seemed to have figured out absolute everything about me. He smirked, and then shook his head and looked back at the road ahead. "Be more careful next time or you'll end up like my cousin Akash."

I stared at him with a small frown. "What happened to your cousin?" I carefully asked, wondering if I actually wanted to know. His retorting look told me I didn't and then he looked ahead with a stern face.

"There's a dangerous world out there…" he said almost mysteriously, and was just about to start another subject when _Beat it_ came on and he immediately dropped his sad subject and cheered up enormously and began to drum with the beat on his steering wheel. Edward smiled and we both sat quietly and watched him as he sang along with the song with much enthusiasm.

After the 15 minutes long bus drive we finally arrived to school and we both got off, waving goodbye to Pal as we went. He smiled back to us, and then drove off, the music fading away as he went. Edward turned to me and smiled.

"Ready for another 'fun' day at school?" he asked with sarcasm in his voice. I giggled, but nodded. We began to walk towards the school when a cheerful voice called our names.

"Bella! Edward!" Alice shouted over the parking lot, and began to walk over towards us. A few feet away from her stood Emmet, Rosalie and Jasper. Rosalie and Jasper were the Hale twins and were the same age as Emmet. Edward, Alice and I went to the Denali Elementary school in the 5th grade and Emmet and the twins went to the Denali middle school in the 6th grade. Both of the schools where exactly next to each other and both of the schools shared the cafeteria. Even though Emmet often teased his siblings, he was the most overprotective brother I've ever met.

A few weeks back, Alice got asked out by a boy in our class. She didn't know what to tell him, so she asked him to wait until lunch for her response. Once lunch came, the boy never showed up. Turns out, the boy whose name was Tim, was ambushed a lesson after he had asked Alice out by a _very _pissed Emmet. Rumor had traveled to Emmet's class in that short time and when he met him, he didn't go easy on him. When the teachers arrived, it was almost

"Hey Bella, I had a feeling you would come now." She said with a smile on her face, and took my hand. "Come on, let's go!" Without any further words, she proceeded to drag me towards the school, leaving Edward behind.

"You're just going to leave me here?" He asked after us and began to catch up with us, walking with long strides. Alice smirked and rolled her eyes, still looking ahead.

"I knew it wouldn't matter asking you to come or not since you would anyway." She said with a shrug, and Edward scoffed at her as he walked up next to me. This was something she often did; knowing what was going to happen in the future. She always claimed it was pure luck, but Edward and I knew it was more than just 'luck'. Every time she announced something that was going to happen in the future, either it was 5 minutes from there of a whole week, she was always right.

"You could've asked anyway." He muttered sourly as we walked inside. The gray walls in the corridors of Alaska Elementary were always neatly decorated with colorful pictures painted by the students, and as we slowly made our way to our home classroom, chatting happily with each others, we got stopped by one of the teachers; Miss Sims. Miss Sims was a young, sour English teacher that always found faults in everything you did, and if you tried to explain to her that you actually weren't doing anything against the rules, she sent you to the principal.

"You are not supposed to run in the corridors! Haven't I told you this at least a hundred times?" she said in her shrill voice, and the three of us immediately stopped talking and stared at her. Her blond hair was in its usual bun on her head, and her piercing glare made me shiver.

"We're sorry, Miss Sims." We all said together in a quit monotone, and her expression turned smug.

"Very well, off you go! If I see you doing something like this again, I will send you to the principal's office." She said, and as soon as she made it clear that we were allowed to go, we as quickly as possible (without running) fled from her.

"I _hate_ her…" Alice muttered bitterly as we had rounded the corner of the corridor, and both Edward and I nodded in agreement.

"What I wonder is why she's a teacher at all? I mean, she absolutely detests kids!" Edward exclaimed, and I scoffed. Even though I had only been there a month, I knew exactly what the meant. In the short time I have stayed here in Alaska, I've gotten 5 detentions by Miss Sims.

"She's a real pain in the-"I was just about to say, when I suddenly was attacked by someone on my left. I shrieked in surprised, and the hard push I had received from the unknown attacker sent me flying to the floor, taking him/her with me.

"Bella!" Alice and Edward yelled together in the background, and I found myself staring into the eyes of my attacker; Sam Wells. Sam was the sweetest, nicest boy I knew here in Alaska (except for Edward that is). He was like me, a little clumsy, and was Edward's best friend (besides me).

"Sam? What are you doing? You scared the hell out of me!" I said as I sat up and rubbed my head where it unfortunately had gotten a pretty bad hit.

"I'm sorry Bella, I was just about to say hi to you all when I tripped and…" he trailed off in uncertainty and his innocent eyes fell to the floor.

"I'm so, so, so sorry! I promise I'll never do it again! Please forgive me! I'll do your homework for 2 weeks! 3 if you want; anything!" he began to ramble and I sighed. This was typically of Sam. As I said, he was the sweetest and kindest boy in the world (except Edward), but as soon as he made a mistake, he acted like he had destroyed the world.

"Sam…" I tried, but I knew it didn't have any effect on him. He just continued to apologize, and after a few seconds I just stopped listening. I looked back at Edward and Alice, and I saw an amused smile on Edward lips as he watched me and Sam.

He slowly walked over to us, and before I knew it, he had lifted Sam up from the floor, grabbing the back of his jacket. Sam, who still was blabbering on an on, stopped and stared at Edward in surprise.

"Sam, relax. It was an accident." He said laughing, and Sam blushed. He and I were quite similar to each other when you thought about it. He was as clumsy as me, he could blush as easily as me and he hated cabbage (just like me). Both Alice and Edward had both told me that he wasn't as flustered as he appeared to be when he was with me otherwise; that it was something he had developed since he met me, but I don't know about that. It just seemed to fit with his personality perfectly.

"Are you okay?" Edward asked me, and stretched out a hand to help me up. I gratefully took it and rose from the corridor floor, feeling how my head ached more after each second.

"Yeah, I'm fine…" I trailed off when I saw Sam's face, which made me laugh. He was staring at me adoringly with wide eyes and his mouth open like a small 'o'. When he noticed I had started to laugh, he immediately began to blush, and looked highly embarrassed.

"Sam, it's okay. It was an accident; I get it." I said with a smile despite the small pain I felt in the back of my head.

"A-a-are you su-"

"Yes, I'm sure. Geez, all of you guys have to stop worry about me." I said with a grin, and was just about to turn around and walk over to Alice when I instead turned and walked straight into a wall. I could hear the others' laughs echo through the corridor. The irony was clear for anyone in this situation, and I gritted my teeth in frustration and anger. Without a word, I rose once again from the floor and began to brush off the dust from my clothes. Then I turned my head towards Sam and Edward, who both still were chuckling at my wonderful performance.

"Not. A. Word." I hissed, and my anger seemed to get through to one of them at least, and Sam immediately stopped laughing. Edward on the other hand just laughed even more, and then walked over to my side and put an arm around my shoulders.

"What would we do without you?" he said with a sigh, and then together, we walked into the classroom.

***After school***

"See you tomorrow Bella!" Sam yelled as he ran towards his mother's car where she was waiting for him.

"Bye!" I called back, and then I turned back to Alice, who was staring at me with a sly grin. Edward had gone ahead whilst Alice and I had said goodbye to Sam, and talked with Emmet and Jasper and Rosalie, who were about 100 meters ahead of us.

"What?" I asked, knowing that this look of hers meant that she was thinking something I didn't like.

"Bella, how can you not see this? He's so into you!" she exclaimed, and I immediately began to blush furiously. Sam? No, there was no way that Sam liked me…was it?

"He's not, Alice! Just drop it!" I hissed back, afraid that Edward or the others would hear. If Emmet found out about this, I'm not sure what he would do…

She continued to grin slyly, but shrugged. "Suit yourself. Come and talk with me when he confesses. It won't be long now." She said, and her self-confidant words made me blush again; this time in anger. I gave her a playful slap on her head, and she cried out in protest.

"Hey! Don't blame me, I'm just a messenger!" she said sourly, and then pouted at me with her tiny lips. I sighed and then noticed that Emmet and the other had stopped ahead and was now waiting for us to catch up. As we reached them, Jasper raised one of his eyebrows questionably at me, and then looked at Alice.

"What did you say this time?" he asked her, and she glared back at him, angry for being accused.

"I didn't do anything! I just said that Sam is going to confess to her soon judging by the way she's looking at her!" She said, and as soon as her message was out, they all began to grin slyly at me (except Edward, who looked surprisingly displeased).

"Ooh, so that's what this is all about." Emmet said, and grinned at me. He placed one hand on my shoulder and then proceeded to ruffle my hair with his other hand. When he was done, my hair looked like a haystack. I immediately began the impossible mission to make it look remotely normal again, but it was a lost cause, and I dropped my hands to my sides in defeat.

"Don't worry Bellie." he said, and I sighed.

"I'm not worrying about this; you are. And besides, she's lying. He doesn't like me." I said, and Rosalie immediately began to giggle. Then she came over to me and gave me a hug.

"I'm sure you'll solve this perfectly." She said, and then let me go and began to walk away together with her brother to their parent's car, which was unusual since they often followed us home. Eric Hale and Anna Hale sat in the car, and as they saw how their children came towards them, both of their faces lit up with glorious smiles. When you saw the two, blond, beautiful parents, you understood where the twins had gotten their good looks from. Eric was the only one in the Hale family who had blue eyes; the others had taken after their mother and had brown eyes. Anna and Eric came from Scandinavia, and had moved to the US together when they decided to become models, and after they had lived there for a few years, they had Rosalie and Jasper. Their dialect was quite funny, but (according to Rosalie) luckily the children of the family hadn't been affected, and spoke with perfect, fluently English.

They both worked as models, and often worked out of the country or in a different state. It was unusual that they were home, both of them at the same time, but not impossible. Esme and Carlisle often helped them when they couldn't stay home and take care of Rosalie and Jasper, and they were very grateful for that. I had only met them four times since I had moved to Alaska, but judging by those four times, I thought they were really nice people.

"Bella, hurry!" It was Edward's voice who made me come back to reality. The others were already heading towards the bus that had arrived, and I hurriedly followed them, not really keen on missing the bus and waiting an hour for the next one.

***Later at the Cullen's house***

The clock ticked loudly in the living room as we all sat silently. Without the twins company, our lively group who usually had no problem at finding out things to do, sat silently in the family sofa. Emmet had planned to have a game marathon with Jasper, and Alice had wanted to try out some new clothes she had gotten this last weekend. But with their playmates gone, their planes were worthless.

At last, Emmet groaned in frustration, and stood up, and Alice followed his example.

"I can't stand it anymore! We _have_ to do something or I'll bore myself to death!" he exclaimed in a frustrated voice, and Alice nodded in agreement.

"Me too!"

Edward sighed, and shrugged. "Then suggest something to do then." He said, leaning against my shoulder with a bored expression.

"Okay…How about hide and seek?" Alice asked, jumping up and down of excitement and sugar rush.

"Eh…sure. I'll start counting." I said, not having anything against the idea (even though it sounded a little childish) and walked over to a wall, folding my hands over my eyes and began to count out loud. I heard how Alice and Emmet ran off, giggling in the progress, but I heard no sign of Edward leaving the room. Maybe he was just quieter than the others…

"58…59…one minute!" I called and turned around, looking around the room. Of course, no one was there. I thought for about all the places they could hide, but I didn't know the house that well, so I just decided to go upstairs. As I reached the hall, I looked around in confusion. I had no idea which of these doors the others had chosen, so I chose the closest one; Edward's door.

"Edward?" I called into the room as I walked forward. I know that it was stupid to call his name; he was hardly going to answer, but it was worth a try anyway. I was just about to call his name again when I stepped on something; a skateboard. The skateboard rolled forward with incredible speed, and I immediately began to fall. I thought it was just another one of my many falls, and that I was going to hit the hard ground and just walk away with a headache, but boy was I wrong. As I fell, my head hit his desk that stood against the south wall in the room. Pain flashed just above my forehead and black spots clouded my vision.

In the background, I heard how someone said something, but I couldn't hear what it was; it sounded like it was so far away.

"Ow…" I said weakly, and slowly moved one hand to my forehead where the pain where. I felt how someone knelt beside me, but I didn't notice; I was staring at my blood covered hand. The scent of it overwhelmed me, and before I knew it, everything just became black.

"Da…help…" I heard Edward's voice in the haze, and then it disappeared along with everything else.

***After an unknown length of time***

"Bella…" someone called me, and as the seconds passed, everything started to get clearer. I opened my eyes, and found myself staring into Dr. Carlisle's brown ones. He was staring intently at me, and as he saw that I was getting more and more conscious by the second, his expression became less and less anxious.

"Bella, you're at the hospital. How do you feel?"

"I'm…"I trailed off, and thought about it. How did I feel? I vaguely remembered how I looked for the others whilst we played hide and seek, and then… I tripped on the skateboard. I hit my head on the desk…and then I don't remember anything else. I felt how my head hurt under all the bandage I had wrapped around my skull, and the gash I had gotten from my fall still hurt; a _lot_.

"My head hurts…" I said, my voice sounding weak and strained just by saying those three words.

"We've given you some pain medicine for the wound, so you'll hopefully be fine. Your bloodlust wasn't fatal, and wound wasn't so big, only deep. You're going to be okay." He said, and as soon as I had been given those reassuring words, my stiff muscles finally seemed to be able to relax.

"You should get some sleep, your body needs to rest." He said, and patted my cheek gently, carefully avoiding the bandage.

"Where's…where's Edward?" I asked, feeling how my mind got more and more tired by the second.

Carlisle smiled warmly at me, and then turned his head around and said something. A few seconds later, Edward entered the room, his eyes red and swollen, signs of that he had cried.

"Bella, are you okay?" he asked, his voice trembling with concern and sadness. I managed to give him a weak smile, and placed my hand on top of his that was resting on the edge of the bed.

"Geez, all of you guys have to stop worry about me; I'm fine." I said, using the same words that I had earlier that day, and he slowly managed to smile back. I closed my eyes, too tired to fight the fatigue any longer.

Edward scoffed. "How could I _not_ worry about you, you silly girl." He said, and then sleep found me and dragged me under the surface.


	4. A not so dark December

**Chapter 4: A not so dark December **

_**December**_

"Bella!" Edward called, bringing me back to reality. I broke my gaze from the flakes that were blowing around in the wild wind and looked over at Edward.

"What?"

"I _said_," He repeated, raising one of his eyebrows. "My mom wondered if you and Charlie and Renée wanted to come over for dinner tonight. Since we don't have any near relatives, she thought it seemed nice if you'd like to come." Two months had passed since the horrible accident that happened. Under that length of time, my body had healed very well, and the gash on my forehead was healed and almost gone. Carlisle said that there would always be a scar from it, since it was pretty deep, by it was a few inches up in the hairline, so it wasn't visible.

Now, it was Christmas day, and the last month, Alaska had been covered with tons of snow. The last weeks of school were horrible. All the other kids had loved the snow and were always determined to throw it in other people's faces when they had the time. I hated the snow, just like mom. It was more because of dad that we lived in these cold environments. Mom came from Arizona and had always loved the heat (like me). But now when we lived here in Alaska, the snow didn't seem _that_ bad…not with Edward at least.

I smiled, and nodded. "Sure. We should go and ask them." I suggested, and he smiled. Both of us stood up from the ground next to the fireplace where we had been sitting and talked, and made our way to the hallway. There, we bumped into Emmet and Sam. Emmet grinned slyly, wearing the knitted hat Rose had given him as a Christmas gift. Sam on the other hand looked quite nervous, and as soon as he saw me, he lowered his gaze, and maybe I was mistaken, but it looked like he blushed.

"Hi there. You game?" he asked us with a grin, and I frowned in confusion.

"Game for what?"

His grin grew widely and he took his arm around Sam, who already seemed to know what awaited him. "Snowball fight. Me and Sam against you two, what do you say?"

I immediately grimaced, and shook my head. "No way. I have to go and talk with my parents right away about staying over here for dinner." I told him, glad I had an excuse so I wouldn't be bombed to death by him.

"Yeah right." He said, not believing me, but luckily, Edward stood up for me.

"It's true, mom _did_ invite them over to dinner Emmet." He said, and Emmet pouted in disappointment.

"Fine. Well, we'll walk you there, right Sam?" he said, and Sam nodded.

"Y-y-yeah." He stammered, and Emmet's grin widened.

"Come on then guys, let's go!" he said, and ran out the door, dragging Sam with him in the progress. Edward and I dressed in our coats, and shortly followed the two of them out in the dark December cold. Even though it wasn't that late, the sun had gone down hours ago. The only light we had to comfort us with was the streetlights from the lampposts down the street.

"Come on, you're slow!" Emmet called ahead of us, and occupied himself by aiming and throwing various snowballs at the lampposts, cheering every time he hit.

"For your information, you're the one who decided to follow _me_ to my house. I walk in any phase I want!" I called back, and giggled as Sam accidently slipped on some ice on the ground and fell into a pile of snow.

"Yeah yeah, whatever." He mumbled, ignoring me as he decided to help Sam out of the snowy mess. Edward took my hand in his and together we walked.

"Do you miss it sometimes? Forks?" he asked, staring up in the air at the almost invisible clouds in the sky that continually provided us with more snow.

"Well, of course I do. I mean, I had a lot of friends there, like Jake and Angela. And it was my hometown for a very long time." I said, and the air fell into silence (if you ignore Sam and Emmet, who both were screaming and laughing). "But," I continued after a few seconds of silence."Alaska is my home now, and I couldn't be happier. At first, I was worried about liking this place but when I met you…well, it didn't seem so bad after all." I confessed, and Edward grinned.

"You changed your mind after you met me?"

I blushed, realizing what I just had said, and hid my embarrassment by false anger. "Don't get ahead of yourself!" I said, and gave him a push. Unfortunately (for him), my push got a little bit harder than I intended, and sent him flying into a pile of snow. Emmet and Sam immediately stopped with what they were doing, and stared at the scene in front of them. Edward, who looked quite surprised to be in the position he was, stared at me for a long time, wide eyed. Then, his eyes turned to normal, and a sly, crooked smile, which I had come to love these months I've been here, appeared on his lips, and I immediately regretted what I had done.

"Oh you're so dead." He said, and I bolted away from him as he began to chase me down the street with a handful of snow in his hand, ready to throw it in my face any second.

***Later* **

"Look at you! You're all wet!" Esme exclaimed as we stepped inside of their warm and cozy home, and her horrified face only made me feel guiltier. I managed to tell my parents about the dinner (somehow), and the rest of the time we all spent playing in the snow.

"I should probably go home." Sam said, and before Esme could protest, Sam disappeared out the door. Sam lived about 15 minutes away from us, so he often came over if he was bored.

Alice came down the stairs, and when she saw me, she burst out laughing. "What happened to you? You look like you've been drenched in a lake!" she said as she saw my wet and frozen hair. It had become so cold that my hair that once had been dry, had frozen to ice, and was now stiff and cold. She took my hand, and before I knew the word of it, she had dragged me up the stairs and in to her room.

"Alice…what are you doing?" I asked as she closed her door and locked it with her silver key. The whole room was decorated in white and pink, and as she began to lead me to her bathroom, terror flooded through my veins. She wasn't going to…?

A smile flashed across her face, and as soon as I saw that familiar fire burning in her gaze, I knew what she was up to. "I'm giving you a makeover."

***Later***

Hours and hours of torture later, she was finally done, and I almost didn't recognize myself in the mirror. "Wow Alice…" I murmured as I saw myself in the mirror.

"Pretty great, huh?" She said, and then giggled. "Come on, the others are probably arriving at any second now." And a few seconds after her words were out, the doorbell rang. "See? Told you."

I stood up, and viewed myself in the mirror one more time before I left together with Alice. She had curled my hair, which had taken up most of the time, and even though I had protested, she's put on some makeup. The purple dress that I was wearing was very beautiful, and luckily, not so exaggerated. The small ballerinas that Alice had almost forced me to put on were very comfy to wear which I at first hadn't thought, the way they looked. It was good that they were dead flat, because if I ever wore something with the slightest of heel, my balance would've worsened drastically. Alice herself had dressed up as well, and was wearing a short, yellow dress that went well with her eyes.

She took my hand, and together we walked down the stairs. In the hall we were met by the Hale twins, Jasper and Rose. Both of them were dressed up in beautiful clothes, and behind them, both of their parents stood; Anna and Eric.

"Bella! Alice! It's so nice to see you again!" Eric said in his slightly strange accent, and Anna nodded in agreement. Like always, they both were dressed up in the newest and highest fashion, and no matter how you looked at them, you couldn't help to think that they were absolutely stunning.

"How very beautiful you look tonight." Anna said in a soft tone in the same accent as her husband, and smiled brightly.

"Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Hale, it's nice to see you two as well." Alice said in a polite tone, and walked over to Rose and immediately began to chatter with her. Jasper rolled his eyes at his sister, and walked over to Emmet, who was in the living room together with Sam. I was just about to follow him when I saw _him_.

He was standing leaning against the wall, staring at me with a strange, unfamiliar look in his eyes, and the second our eyes met, I blushed. He smiled, and walked over to me.

"Hi. You look…absolutely lovely." He said, which only made me blush some more.

"Thank you." I told him, and then noticed he had changed clothes as well.

"When did you change your clothes?" I asked, gesturing at the clothes he had changed to.

He chuckled, and together we walked into the living room. The fire in the fire place was burning nicely, and their enormous Christmas tree was neatly decorated with lots of lights and Christmas tree balls. "Bella, you've spent almost 2 hours in Alice's room; I think I found the time to change clothes at some point." He said, and I chuckled. Yes, Alice's makeovers were something we all had experience of. I was lucky I wasn't stuck in there the whole day…

"Bella, there you are!" My mom said as she saw me, and hurried over to me, dragging Charlie along. "Oh my, you look so beautiful!"

"Mom…" I groaned, and Edward laughed at my embarrassment.

"How are you Mr. and Mrs. Swan?" Edward politely asked, and my mother laughed.

"Such manners! We're fine, thank you." She said, answering for Charlie as well, who was silent. "It was so very nice of your mother to invite us tonight."

"Well, I'll make sure she'll know." He said with a smile, and then took my hand and began to walk away from there.

"What are you doing?" I asked in confusion. He took me to the hallway, and gave me my jacket.

"Put it on, or you'll be cold." He said, and I did as I was told. We put on our outdoor shoes, and walked out into the calm and dark night. The snow was falling down softly from the sky and the night was calm and quiet, the only thing sounding was the sound of crunching snow beneath our feet. The strange thing was about this was that I wasn't cold at all. I usually shivered nonstop when I went outside in cold weathers like this, but this night I was filled with this warm and exciting feeling. It made my skin feel smoldering hot instead of freezing cold.

"Why are we walking outside?" I asked, breaking the nice and comfortable silence. He looked over at me, and his face lit up with a smile.

"I've got something for you."

He stopped walking, and dug after something in his jacket's pocket. I stopped as well, and after a minute of searching, he found what he was looking for. It was a small, wrapped box with a pretty bow on top of it. He reached over the small box and smiled happily.

"Merry Christmas, Bella." The words made my cheek go warm, and I accepted the box. It's weight was light, and after a few seconds of staring at it, I looked over at him. He was grinning at me, and when he saw my face, he laughed.

"What's the matter? Just open it!" he urged, and I did as I was told and opened the small box. Inside, there was a small necklace. It was a thin, golden chain, and on it was a small, blue gemstone pendant. It was absolutely beautiful, no matter how you saw it.

"Do you like it?" he asked, and I looked up from the small box into his eyes. I almost drowned in them, the way I stared at them, but at last, I finally managed to give him an answer to his question.

"I love it! Thank you so much!" I said, and attacked him with a hug, which he was not prepared for. It sent us both flying to the ground, and I landed on top of him as he landed on the uncomfortable cold ground.

"Oh gosh, I'm so sorry!" I exclaimed in horror, but Edward's reaction was anything but terror filled. He began to laugh, and I immediately stood up and helped him up from the ground. He shook his head, and then placed a hand on my shoulder.

"It's alright Bellie, it was an accident. Are you okay?" he asked, and I nodded, which earned me another smile.

"Great. Here, give me the box." He said, and I reached him the box, that had miraculously survived the fall, and the necklace had stayed in its place the whole time. He took the box from me and took the necklace into his hands. The small, golden chain almost glowed in the streetlights, and he took it by both ends and looked at me.

"Come over here. I want to put it on." He said, and I did as he told me to. I removed my hair from my neck so it would be easier for him to put it on, and after a few seconds, that cold, golden chain was hanging around my neck. I let my newly curled hair down, and looked at it.

"It's really beautiful…" I murmured truthfully, which made Edward laugh. This gift was really- wait! He's given me a Christmas gift, now I have to give him mine! How could I forget?

"Oh no! I haven't given you your gift!" I exclaimed in horror, and looked at him. His smile still stayed strong, and he shook his head.

"Bellie, it's okay. I don't need one." He said with a shrug, but I stubbornly shook my head.

"No. Right is right. I'll go get it right now." I said, and began to walk towards my house in a fast phase (running was out of the question. Whenever I ran, I always fell; no question about it).

"Bella, wait!" Edward called, and ran to catch up with me. Together, we walked to my house, and once we had reached it, I turned to Edward.

"Wait here, I'll be right back." I told him, and then ran inside, not waiting for him to give me an answer. I ran up to my room, and opened my drawer box where I had hidden it since I had gotten it for him. It was a sheet music book he had observed when we were in town. Edward really loved to play the piano, so I figured…why not give him some sheet music?

I took the package that I had wrapped neatly the night before, and ran downstairs again (without falling, luckily). I went outside again, and as promise, there he stood on our porch, with his hands in his pockets and a distant look on his face. As soon as he heard my door slam shut, he turned around and gave me a warm smile.

"You're back already?" he asked, and I smiled back. I reached him the package, and he took it.

"Here, merry Christmas." I said, smiling brightly, and he opened his gift, and stared at the music sheets I had gotten him. A smile reached his lips, and he looked up from it into my eyes.

"This…you saw me, that day in the book shop, didn't you?" he said, and I nodded. Both of us had gone into town to buy some books, but none of us had any money, so we had to go home again.

"I hope you like it." I said, and he shook his head. My mood immediately sunk, and I sadness filled me up. Edward saw this, and smiled.

"No, I don't like it. I _love_ it. Thank you Bella." His kind words warmed my heart, and instantly made me feel like normal again. I was just about to say something else, when a high, bright voice called our names.

"Bella! Edward!" Alice called, and both of us turned around. She stood out in the snow with her hands on her hips, and her glare was fiercer than normal. "I knew that you were going out for a bit, but not this long! Come on, everyone else are waiting for you, we're just about to start dinner!" She called, and Edward sighed.

"We'll be right there!" he yelled back, and Alice just shook her head and walked back. She looked irritated when she spoke, but now when she walked back, she looked …happy, smug almost. I wonder why…

"I guess we should go back then." I said, and Edward nodded.

"Yeah." He said, and once again, he thanked me for his gift.

"You're welcome. You better play something from this book for me, or else." I warned him in a teasing tone, and he laughed.

"Absolutely, I promise." He promised, and I smiled. Together we walked back to their house, following Alice's footsteps that were already fading in the crunching snow, and enjoyed the rest of the night together with our families.


	5. Angel lost in the snow

**Chapter 5: Angel lost in the snow**

_**January**_

"Hey Bella, do you want to do something with me today?" Sam asked me as we walked away from the school in the cool January sun. The snow that had been falling down from the sky since last November was still covering our streets and provided us with lots of "fun" in the free time. I had been involved in more snowball fights than I could count (unwillingly every time). The absolutely beautiful necklace I had received from Edward was something I wore every day, even for school. The blue gemstone shone in the sun, and no matter how much I stared at it, its beauty never seemed to falter.

I smiled at him, which for some odd reason made him blush, and I was just about to answer him when a cold, wet substance hit me in the neck. I yelped in surprise and discomfort, and after I had removed the snow from my neck, I looked over my shoulder to see who my attacker was. It wasn't that hard to find out, since the parking lot was practically empty of people except the 3, grinning boys whose faces I knew all too well. A few meters away, Edward, Emmet and Jasper stood all together, and in their hands were perfectly shaped snowballs that were ready to be thrown at any seconds.

"Oh Bella…"Emmet said in a singsong voice, and I immediately knew I was in trouble. _Big_ trouble.

"Come on!" I yelled to Sam and took his hand, dragging him with me as I ran away from the three troublemakers. I heard how they screamed after us, and every now and then, snowballs hit the ground just right next to us. I yelped, and tried to pick up my phase but just as we almost had arrived to the bus stop, my feet slipped on an icy spot on the ground and made me fall. And no, that wasn't apparently bad enough. In the fall, I managed to take Sam with me.

I heard how the others screamed at us in the background, some of them laughing, some of them in a more serious tone, but I didn't really notice that, because at the moment, Sam was lying _on top of me_. My cheeks reddened, and his as well, and as the seconds passed, his face still lingered inches from mine, not moving. His brown eyes stared into mine, and for a minute, it felt like the world had stopped. It was just me and Sam, staring at each other. Suddenly, he seemed to realize that he still was on top of me, and hurriedly got off me.

"I'm-I'm so sorry for-"he began, rambling in embarrassment when I interrupted him.

"No, it was my fault, I was the one who-"I said, sitting up when suddenly, a pair of hands heaved me up from the ground and hung me over his shoulder, like I was a schoolbag or something. I immediately recognized Emmet, since no one else on earth will ever have such large feet at his age.

"Emmet, what are you doing? Let me go!" I said as fiercely as I could, hanging upside down.

"No Bella." He said, and then began to walk. As we passed the others, I could see their confused and amused faces from where I hang, I when I met Edward's eyes, he stared back with an apologetic expression that told me that there was nothing he could do.

"Why can't you let me go? Just do it!" I yelled angrily, not precisely thrilled about the idea hanging upside down whilst rocking back and forth.

"Bella, this last month you've fallen seven times. _Seven_; I counted it myself. And since you just take a tumble walking by yourself, I'll carry you for the rest of the day." He said, and the most horrifying thing about this was that I heard that he was serious.

"Emmet!" I screamed, not liking his statement at all. "I promise I'll be more careful walking, just please let me down. I'm getting nauseous…" I said truthfully, trying to ignore the hideous feeling in my stomach that was spreading towards my throat.

"On a second thought, maybe that's a better idea." He then said quickly in a nervous tone, and gently let me down on the ground. He wasn't as keen of the idea anymore when he realized his clothes might've become the price of it all. My head spun as I tried to orient myself, and it didn't take long until the others caught up with us.

"Are you okay?" Edward asked, already familiar with my ability to easily get nauseous.

I took a deep breath, trying to make the unsettling feeling go away, and then answered him. "Yeah, it's okay. I just need a minute to breathe." I said, and sat down on the bench just next to the bus sign.

"I'm really sorry, again." Sam apologized yet another time.

"I've told you already, it's _okay_." I said, hoping to get the message through this time. He looked at me nervously, and I gave him one, reassuring smile to tell him it was okay. "Stop worrying Sam, its okay." I said, and this time, he smiled back.

"Where's Pal? Shouldn't he be here by now?" Jasper asked and then, rounding the corner of the desolate street, the small, white and blue bus appeared, racing forwards in a speed you should rather have on a highway instead of a corner of a small road. Pal honked the horn, and then skidded to a stop right before our eyes, opening the doors to the bus.

"Hey kids, get in! Sorry I'm late, a lot of traffic today." He said, his 80's music pumping in his stereo.

"It's okay Pal." Emmet said, and then we all got in to the bus.

***Later***

"Are you sure you can find your way?" I asked Edward as he dragged me through the dark woods. The day had went absolutely perfect, and after Sam had began to walk his not so long way back home, Edward convinced me to go to our place in the woods again. That small field was ours in a way. None of us had told any other living person about it, and in a way, it just felt like a secret place, just for the two of us. Whenever we just wanted to talk or hang out without the others' company, we went there. During the autumn, the trees had lost all their leaves, and during the winter, snow had decorated it beautifully with the dark trunks in the background. The small lake had frozen to ice, and just last month, Edward had brought our ice-skates and together we'd skated around on the frozen ice for hours.

"Of course, you're just worrying because you're the one without any sense of directions of the two of us." He said jokingly, and I would lie if I said I didn't enjoy the hit I placed on his arm, making him groan in pain.

"Hey!" he screamed in protest, which made me giggle a little. He grinned, and then ruffled my hair with his mitten Esme had knitted for him this Christmas. Now I was the one who was complaining and he the one who was smiling smugly.

"That's enough!" I said, and removed me from his hold. He grinned, and then took a look at my hair-due, which made him laugh. I sighed, and removed my mittens to get rid of the haystack he had achieved to create on top of my head.

After another couple of minutes of joking around, we finally reached the field. It wasn't large, which was the thing I probably liked with it the most, other than the beauty of it.

"This is probably my favorite spot in the whole world." Edward said, his eyes glue to the starlit sky. He looked back at me, and gave me a grin that made my heart to beat faster. "Don't you think that too?"

"Y-Yeah." I stuttered, not able to say it clearly. He smiled, and then, without a warning, pushed me back in the snow. I squealed in surprise as we fell, and landed softly on the white snow. He laughed beside me, and then lay on his back, holding my hand tight. I don't know how long we laid there. Time wasn't really the issue. We just lay on the snow and watched the sky, talking and laughing together like the good friends we were.

Then, many minutes later, I swiftly sat up, shivering slightly in my cold jacket. "Is it okay if we go home now? I'm starting to feel cold." I said, shaking as the cold winds blew right through me.

"Yeah, sure. I was just about to suggest the same thing. It's getting late." I smiled gratefully at him, and rose from the cold, snowy ground. He followed my example and together, we began to exit the field, entering the dark forest. Even though it was dark, it didn't bother us. It seemed like Edward could find his way anywhere and never get lost, even if it was night and you saw nothing at all. Our trip from the field wasn't really much of a difference from the trip back to our houses. We continued to joke with each other, laughing as I tripped on my feet in the dark night, and talking about school and our friends in it. After 15 minutes of stumbling in the darkness, I finally saw the wonderful light of the streets.

"Finally." Edward sighed, and then turned to me. He took my hand in his, and squeezed it lightly. "Take care, I'll see you tomorrow." He said, and I smiled.

"Yeah, see ya." We parted smiling, and walked our separate ways. The streets were empty by this time (not that they ever were trafficked), and as I walked through alit lane, I thought about him. How we had met, how we had spent so many wonderful, sometimes not so wonderful times (like when Alice made us watch this chick-flick over and over again…).

The memories of him reminded me of this Christmas (which had been the best Christmas in my entire life) and how wonderful it had been. My hands immediately came to my neck to touch the beautiful necklace I had worn day in and day out the last month, when I realized something; it wasn't there. I removed my mittens in panic and felt again, but sure enough, the spot around my neck where it always used to hang was empty. Thoughts ran through my head, but they all came back to the same thing; find the jewelry. I instantly scanned my memory of the last places I'd spent during the day, knowing it was there, and remembered how I had fingered on it as we laid in the snow. It must be there somewhere; I probably dropped it when I rose from the ground or something.

Snow began to fall as I immediately began to run back to the trail leading to the field. It took me a while to find it, but after a few minutes of searching, I finally saw it. A strange feeling entered my stomach as I stepped onto the dark trail, leaving the bright streetlights behind me. I was hardly scared of the dark otherwise, but now…I was anything but brave at that moment. To distract myself from the fear I felt, I decided to look on the ground, searching the trail after the golden chain. I might've lost it on the way home.

The longer I walked, the more the fear seemed to build up. The snow fell down much more intense now, making it almost hard to see in front of me. I tensed up in my body, and every little sound made me turn my head. I finally decided to stop looking on the trail, figuring I could look on the way home instead (which was a lie to myself. In reality, I just felt scared looking down all the time.) That's when I realized it; I had no idea where I was.

Absolute panic and fear ran through my veins as I realized this horrifying fact. I spun around in circles, trying to see where the trail had been, but I could see it. Then, as I spun around, I thought of something. I could follow my footsteps in the snow back! Gosh, how could I be so stupid and forget something like that?

I looked after the footsteps I had walked, and found them after a few seconds of looking. Strangely enough, the steps had almost disappeared under the newly fallen snow. But that didn't really bother me. Not until I had followed my tracks a bit into the woods. The further I came, the more the tracks had faded, and after a few minutes of walking, the steps were gone all together. I froze, and watched it in absolute dreadfulness as the only single hope I had left disappeared.

"No…" I mumbled, shivering as the wind blew through the forest. Tears began to develop in my eyes, and then I started to run. I had no idea why I did that. It wasn't smart, I knew that much. The more I ran, I thought everything got more scarier by the second. I thought demons were hiding behind every tree I passed, and the forest just seemed to get darker and darker the more I ran.

I don't know long I ran. Maybe minutes, maybe hours. But all the running stopped as that one, lone, terrible thing happened that changed everything. As I ran, I thought I heard a growling noise behind me. I panicked (of course) and looked behind me, continuing to run forward. What was the result? Running into a tree. And it wasn't just like I bumped my head into a tree; I_ ran_ into it, full speed. I fell to the ground hard, and the hard impact on my skull made it seem to be impossible to get up again. Everything spun, and the dark environment made it seem like I was sleeping. Honestly, I had no idea if I did. All the sweat my body had developed running began to become cold, and the more I laid there, the colder I became.

I trembled as another shiver rocked my body. I didn't know how long I had lied there. The snow was worse now, and so was the wind. My teeth were trebling like crazy, and every part of my body was numb. I couldn't call for help, I couldn't move, I couldn't do anything… And I felt sleepy too… Now that I thought about it, I was really sleepy. A little nap wouldn't hurt, would it? I closed my eyes and started to slowly slip away into a deep sleep. But something was bothering me… something disturbed my sleep. I slowly tried to re-open my eyes again, but it felt like they we're glued shut. But even if I couldn't see, I slightly felt how something happened to my body; I slightly heard how someone was calling my name…

Suddenly, the hollow of my knee and my back became extremely cold, colder than the ground before. It felt like I was dreaming, and I'm sure I dreamt it, now when I think about it. In this 'dream' of mine, I dreamt a pale yet absolutely beautiful woman with strange, piercing yellow eyes carried me. She continued to whisper soothing things to me, but I couldn't hear what. I fought to keep my eyes open (which was strange, since it was a dream), but in the end, my fatigue won, and my eyes closed shut. Opening them later seemed to be the hardest thing I ever had done. It seemed like someone else almost made me do it by force.

Like waking up from a deep sleep, everything seemed to come back to me in slow-motion. Someone far-away, who seemed to come closer and closer to me as the seconds passed, screamed furiously at me, saying the same thing over and over again. And it wasn't just this person. I heard others as well, but I couldn't make out a word of what they were saying.

Then, out of nowhere, my eyes opened and bright light flicked in. Then it closed again, and my other eye got the same treatment. I realized after a while that it was someone who was lifting my eyelids, and that it wasn't me who ruled these actions. I tried to lift them, or at least one of them, but it seemed like they were made of lid. It took me a while to do it, and when they were finally open, my sight was confusion. Dr. Cullen, or Carlisle like he prefers to be called, stood before me, his expression stressed and saddened. He was talking to someone beside him in a stressed manner. I fought to keep locking, and just as he looked my way, black spots covered my sight, and my consciousness slipped away.

***later***

I awoke later, and it felt like I had slept for days. My limbs felt stiff and sore, and even though I had had too much sleep than a human normal would, but I still felt tired. I looked around, confused of where I was, until I noticed it was my own room. The sun was shining outside my window, and by the looks of it, it looked like it was morning. I sighed, and was just about to get up when I remembered what had happened. Images of the frightening, long night reappeared in my mind, and it took me a few deep breaths to make me calm again. In the end, I thought I was dead for sure…

I sighed glumly at the fact that I actually didn't find the necklace. That was my first Christmas gift from Edward, and now it's gone forever… The thought just made me depressed, and as I turned around in my bed, I noticed another human in the room. In the corner of the room, in the old chair that I loved so much that my mom used to rock me in when I was little, Edward sat, his head resting on his hands that were lying on the armrest. His marvelous face was relaxed in his sleep, and the circles under his eyes made me wonder how long he had stayed awake without a good night's sleep. But as I stared at his sleeping face, his lips suddenly turned into a smile and he whispered one name.

"Bella…"

I smiled to myself in my quiet room, and then decided to myself that a few more hours sleep wouldn't hurt.

**Playlist: Angel in the snow – Elliot Smith **


	6. Aftermath

**Chapter 6: Aftermath **

_**February**_

"You should've seen it! She was lying there in the snow and-"I slapped Emmet in the head, making him pause in his (what his friends thought at least) exhilarating story. I on the other hand, was not that impressed.

"Ouch! What was that for?"He rubbed his head where I had hit, but it was probably just for the audience. I knew a punch like that wouldn't hurt him. Believe me, I've tried.

I glanced at the friends he was telling it to, and felt a knotting feeling in my stomach. I knew who those two were; Alex and Liam, they were in the same class as Emmet. I _also _knew that Emmet had only hung out with those persons once, maybe twice in his entire life. He wasn't only telling his friends anymore: He was telling _everyone._

I brought his head closer to me, and hissed quietly into his ear. "Stop telling everyone! Alex and Liam aren't even your friends!"

He turned his head to look at me, and even though he tried to look as innocence as possible, I saw the slyness beneath it. "I'm not telling everyone…"

I hit him in the head again, and then turned around, walking fast. My cheeks were red with embarrassment and anger and as I walked through the parking lot, I sighed. Last month's accident had spread to everyone at school (thanks to Emmet), and I had tried to ignore it, but it was hard. No one, especially Edward, let me out in the woods myself. Sometimes, at night, images still haunted me when I ran around there in the blinding darkness, searching after the lost necklace. I never found it, and when I told Edward I had lost it, he just shook his head, telling me it didn't matter, just that I was okay. But the thing that bothered me the most was those cold arms that had carried me. I have no idea if I had imagined it or not, but I was sure it was a woman with piercing yellow eyes who did it. But they told me that it was Carlisle that had found me…

"Bella, what's up?" I almost screamed in surprise when Sam suddenly spoke. I hadn't noticed that he was walking beside me until now, and I saw the horror in his face when he realized he had scared me.

"Oh god, I am so sorry! I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay Sam. I was just surprised, that's all." I tried, but he refused to listen.

"-at all! I am so, deeply sorry! I'll do your choirs at school for weeks, months!"

I sighed, and stopped grabbing his shoulders to firmly stop him too. "Sam," I curly said, and his low, uncertain voice was cut off. "You don't have to apologize. I'm _okay_." My words finally seemed to get through to him, and he nodded uncertainly.

"Okay."

I gave him a reassuring smile, and then let go of his shoulders. "Come on, the bus is coming soon." I grabbed his hand, and together we walked to the bus station. The snow was still laying like a slick layer on all of our streets here, and it looked like they had no intentions of going away. Mom had complained for weeks, and I had found her more than once asking herself why we were living in this freezing town at all.

"Hey…" Sam began as we walked, and I looked over at him, my thoughts drifting around. "What is it?"

"D-do you want to do want to do something today?" he asked, stuttering at first. I gave him a warm smile, and nodded. Believe it or not, Sam was actually quite fun to be around, even though he was shy. His face lit up with happiness, and he smiled back.

"What are you love-birdies doing?" Someone suddenly asked ahead, and I whipped my head around to see Alice and Edward standing ahead. Alice was the one who had spoken, and her eyes was watching us thoughtfully, almost skeptical. Edward, on the other hand, only looked happy, but there was a glint in his eye that told me that something bothered him.

"N-n-n-n-n-nothing." Sam stammered, blushing deeply and I chuckled.

"We're not doing anything, Alice. Stop making us sound like a couple." I said, chuckling at the ridiculous thought. She raised her eyebrow, and inched her head towards our entwined hands. "_That_," she spoke, and it sounded almost like an accusation. "Looks like something a couple would do."

I sighed, and gave her an annoyed look. "Don't make me hit you; I've already punched Emmet today. I don't want to hit another Cullen today."

Edward raised his eyebrows, and gave me a crooked smile, which for some strange reason, made my heart jolt. "Now, now Alice, stop teasing Bella and Sam." He said, and ruffled his sister in her hair. She called out in protest, and hit her small hands on Edward's arm, which made him and the rest of us laugh.

"Hey, do you want to come to our house?" Edward asked me, and I smiled. Spending the afternoons in his house had almost become a thing now. My parents hardly saw me these days, they said.

"Sorry, but I promised Sam that we would do something." I told him, remembering the promise I had given him minutes ago.

Alice eyes us with narrowed eyes, and then, in a split second, her face broke out into a smile. "Why don't the two of you come to our place then? I promise you it will be fun."

I looked at Sam, and after a small look at me, he nodded. "Sure, it'll be fun."

"Great." Alice and Edward said together, and just as they did, we heard the blasting music from pal's bus; this time, it was Roxette. He opened the bus door, and flashed us a smile.

"What are you standing around for? Hop on!"

***Later***

"Are you sure you have to go?" Alice and Edward asked, but both Sam and I nodded. It was l late; _really_ late. Mom and dad were probably going to be pissed at me.

"Sorry, but I promised my dad I would be home an hour ago."Sam said, and I smiled apologetically.

"Yeah, my parents won't be that happy with me either." Both Edward's and Alice's faces fell a little, but they nodded in comprehension. "Okay…but it was great having you here." Edward said, and I gave him a small smile. "Yeah."

"See you tomorrow then!" Alice said, and then Sam and I walked out into the frosting cold. The wind was still, but the temperature was below freezing. Our breaths became fog as we breathed and our cheeks instantly reddened by the cold. Sam glanced at me, and I gave him a small smile as we walked.

"I really had a great time today." He said, and I nodded in agreement. If it's really true that if you laugh, you live longer, than I would become at least a hundred years old thanks to tonight. Sam's golden locks were buried underneath the nice hat Esme had knitted him, and his brown eyes watched me adoringly.

"Me too." I smiled, and as we reached the branching of the road, we stopped. We looked at each other, waiting for the other one to say goodbye (or at least something) but no one did. Sam looked almost nervous as he stood there, fidgeting with his mittens in the illuminated street, and I was just about to say something, when he beat me to it. "Bella," he began, but then trailed off, like he had lost his courage.

"What is it?" I asked, and gave him a small smile. His nervous eyes met mine, and I could see that it was something there, underneath the edginess, I just couldn't figure out what. He stared at me for what seemed minutes, when suddenly his cheeks reddened more than they should've and he looked away.

"Nothing. I see you tomorrow, okay?" he said, and then bolted away from me, not waiting for an answer. I stared after his running silhouette that faded into the night, and frowned. Odd. He seemed so nervous and all, but all he did was to say goodbye. Was he about to say something else?

With a confused and slightly surprised mind, I continued my own road home, walking carefully so I wouldn't trip on the slippery ice. Alaska at winter was a dangerous place (at least for someone like me). Tripping seemed to be the only thing I did these days.

I finally made it home, and as I quietly opened the door, I could hear loud voices sounding from the kitchen. I knew it was mom and dad. Both of them sounded frustrated, and as I carefully took off my jacket and shoes, I listened to their argument.

"I'm tired of this! You won't listen to me!" Mom yelled, and I heard how something landed in the sink with a faint crash. Hopefully she didn't break anything.

"Won't listen? All I do is listening to your crap! What do you want me to do?"

"I don't know Charlie, how about wanting you to act like an adult for once in a while!"

I carefully snuck over to the edge of the wall, and peeked over the edge. Dad was sitting in his chair, a newspaper spread on the table while my mother was standing next to the sink, wearing her washing apron. Not wanting to be near neither them nor their yelling, I swiftly snuck passed the kitchen, and headed up the stairs. Luckily, the stairs didn't creak, which would've revealed me, and then I escaped into my room.

I knew that my parents fought sometimes, but I hated to walk in on them when they did. The fights usually ended peacefully, but they could continue for hours. Hours of yelling, cursing, smashing things. I would always escape to my room and hide there until it was over.

Without changing, I got into my bed, and lay down under the covers. Their shrilling voices echoed up from the stairs to my room, and even though I concentrated on other things like the wind outside, or the slightly humming sound of the AC, nothing seemed to help.

A small tear escaped my eye, and I breathed deeply so I wouldn't start crying. Not wanting to be awake to hear the word 'bastard' for the 15th time, I grabbed the freestyle I had borrowed from Emmet last week that lay on my bedside table, and put the headphones on. The CD was a noisy, up-tempo one that excluded the sound of their voices just fine, and with the freestyle neatly tucked in my arms, I fell into a worried and nightmare-filled sleep.


	7. Young Hearts

**Chapter 7: Young hearts **

_**June**_

I stretched myself on my bed. The summer air in Alaska was hardly as warm as it was in Arizona, where my family usually travelled in the summers, visiting my mom's family, but it was still comfortable. My body was well rested but even so, I just wanted to lie in the bed and relax for a few more hours.

I sighed happily, and was just about to open my eyes when a voice spoke into my ear."Bellie, wake up you sleepy head, you'll be late!" A boy's voice whispered in my ear. My eyes flashed open instantly and I stared at him in shock. Edward's green eyes were watching me and his crooked grin would've made my heart beat even faster if it was possible. At the moment my heart was racing inside my chest, the sudden action scaring me to death, and I breathed deeply in gasping, rapid breaths to in a weak attempt regain my calm.

"Sorry there Bellie, didn't mean to give you a heart attack, but it's true, we got to go if we don't want to be late." Edward said again when I hadn't answered, and I looked at him like he was stupid. It was 7 o'clock in the morning! Why was he in my bedroom that early in the morning?

"H-h-h-how did you get in here?" I stammered, still in shock.

"Trough your window, silly. Now go and get dressed, I'll wait downstairs." He said and patted my head, then he disappeared trough my bedroom door. I watched him with wide eyes as his silhouette disappeared down the stairs, and I placed a hand on my chest, feeling how my heart beat underneath it. My window had a grand tree just underneath it, perfect for climbing in. Edward and I had realized that early this spring as we had played in my yard, and often climbed up in it and knocked on my window when he wanted something, not wanting to bother ringing on the doorbell. But climbing in on a Monday morning before school was something new.

I got out of bed as fast as I could, and dressed. Springtime in Alaska was very much like the spring in Forks; wet and cold at first, and then slightly warmer and dryer. Sam, Alice, Edward and I had been spending more time together than ever, and it had been absolutely wonderful. Emmet and Rose had spent more time together as well and one May morning, Alice announced that they were officially a couple. The two of them had been together ever since, and I think actually Alice was more excited about it then the two of them together.

"Hurry up Bellie, we'll be late!" Edward called from downstairs. I took my school bag and flung it over my shoulder as I ran downstairs, but I tripped on the last step. I closed my eyes, preparing for the impact, but luckily, Edward was prepared, and held out his arms protectively, preventing me from falling flat on the floor.

"Bellie, you're so clumsy…" he chuckled, putting back a strand of hair that had escaped its place. I blushed slightly, not really knowing why, and straightened out of his hold, somehow feeling extremely embarrassed.

"Did you oversleep again?" Charlie called from the kitchen, not taking his eyes away from the newspaper in his hands. He was wearing his uniform of the Alaskan police, and I presumed he was going to go not long after us.

"Yeah, I was just leaving." I retorted, putting on my shoes and jacket as fast as I could. The bus would be there any minute.

"Have a great time at the…where were you guys going again?" Charlie turned around is chair and looked at us questioningly and a little bit guilty.

"The museum, dad." I said with a sigh, and rose from the ground, taking my things with me as I did. I really loved my dad, but sometimes he just shut down and stopped listening on anything around him.

"Oh, that's right!" He exclaimed. Edward and I hurried to the door, and just as I was about to close it behind me, Charlie called after me.

"Have fun." His voice faded as the door closed shut, and together, Edward and I ran towards the bus station. Today, our class was going on a class trip to the only museum in town. I wasn't really sure about what it was about, but if I got any chance to get away from our demon-teacher Miss Sims (who was one of the teachers who had to stay behind in school), I would take it.

Edward had apparently been to this museum before, and when I asked him what it was about, he just shrugged.

"Nothing special, really." The sun shone brightly as we walked swiftly down the street towards the empty bus station. "The displays are just about different kinds of wildlife you can find out here."

I nodded, and tried to ignore the fact that our hands were entwined and my heart was going crazy because of it. His warm skin felt good on mine, and the butterflies in my stomach went crazy as he gently squeezed my hand in his. I was sure my face was red in embarrassment, but I hoped he believed it was because of exercise or the heat, not because of the truth; I went crazy just being around him.

We reached the station just in time to see Pal skid around the corner with his worn out white and blue bus. He stopped in his usual place, and opened the doors, the music of _Bon joivi _blasting out the door.

"Hi there kids, nice to see you." Pal smiled at me as we hopped on the bus, and as soon as we were on, he closed the door and continued to drive down the street.

"I heard that you were going to the museum, correct?" he asked, and I we nodded. There was no surprise that Pal knew we were going; Pal knew everything that happened around town, even though it wasn't much.

"Yeah, were meeting up there." Edward said, and Pal grinned, looking ahead.

"Good thing you're taking Bellie with you; we wouldn't want her to get lost again."Pal and Edward laughed at his joke, but I just blushed in embarrassment and anger. _No one_ had forgotten it, and it really felt like no one was going to do it anytime soon either. 5 months had passed, but even though, people still felt like it was necessary to remind me of my little 'accident' in January

I groaned and buried my head in my hands. "Pal…" he had often teased me of this over the months that had passed, and no matter how many times he did it, it never ceased to humor him.

He chuckled once more, but detected my sour mood. "Alright, alright." It felt like he was going to say something else, something wiser and supporting, but the second his mouth opened, _You give love a bad name_ began, and Pal barked an excited laugh.

"_Shot through the heart, and you're to blame! Darling you give love a bad name!" _he sang, almost screamed along, and when the small guitar solo, came, he twisted around in his chair and bobbed his head to the beat. Edward and I laughed, but sang along as well. Even though a small smile was plastered to my face, I had the same fear I had felt the first day I had met Pal. But with hard effort, I pushed away the fear of crashing and instead laughed together with Edward in harmony.

***later***

"Alright kids. Here's what were going to do!" Mr. Cass called us to order, and we immediately stopped talking. Alice, who had been driven there by Carlisle, had replaced Edward's hand with hers, and smiled at me as the students began to quiet down. Sam was there too, but there was something off with him today. He was awfully quiet, and every time I tried to talk with him, he avoided me. Edward acted a little strange around Sam too, but he wasn't avoiding me at least.

"I'll divide you into 7 groups, 4 in each and together you'll go through the exhibitions and do these assignments…" Mr. Cass instructed, and then handed out every student a paper with questions on it together with a pencil. "Alright, now you'll each get a number. That number will be your group number, and when you've received it, meet up in your groups and start." He walked around, giving us all numbers. Alice and I came into the same group (after Alice had discreetly yet conveniently replaced herself in the bundle of kids) and when Edward and Sam got the same number as us, both of them grimaced slightly. I wasn't sure what it was, but something had happened between them. The boys solemnly walked over to us, and then spoke in the exact same second.

"So," both of them began, and then glared at each other, angry that the other one had spoken. Alice, who suddenly was annoyed as well, spoke up, taking my hand in the progress.

"Alrigh, hush! Mr. Cass said that we were going to start as soon as we were in our groups, and the sooner we're done with this, the sooner we can finish it." The idea of parting from each other apparently sounded very appealing to the two boys, and they both fell into silence. Alice studied the two of them slightly before we began our tour of the utterly boring museum. Glass cages filled with stuffed animals filled every room except one, which was filled with old, dead plants that were placed in glass cabinets, small texts beside them telling us what they were.

Alice and I walked ahead of the two sour boys, and with much caution, I secretly looked back at them.

"What's going on with them, Alice? Are they fighting or something?" I whispered, studying the two former friends. I didn't understand what had made them fall out so badly. Yesterday, everything seemed to be just fine. We had spent the day at my house, and then they walked home together when it was time for dinner. Now, they were walking with at least 3 meters distance at all times, and they didn't say a word to each other.

Alice nudged me so I would look ahead, and then answered me in a low tone, so they wouldn't hear us. "They're…solving a dispute they came across last night. Don't worry, it'll solve itself, just give them time." She said, and I frowned, looking back at them again.

"It doesn't look like they're solving much to me…" I muttered disagreeably, watching the two boys that stubbornly refused to even look at each other.

Alice giggled slightly, and then gave my hand a soft squeeze. "Trust me on this one; it'll be okay. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but I promise that they'll be friends again by the end of this week." I looked back at Alice yellow-brown eyes, and I hoped that the confidence in them were right.

***Later***

The day continued in the same pattern: Alice and I walked ahead, discussing all kinds of things whilst doing the assignment, and the two boys followed behind, not speaking. Occasionally, Edward spoke to me, but it wasn't like it normally was. It was tense, like he knew Sam was listening. Sam didn't speak at all, and I really began to worry that something was awfully wrong. I had seen the boys fight during the time I had been here, but this was something completely different. But I trusted Alice when she said that it would work out; I had also learned during the time I had been here that if you bet against Alice, you were destined to lose.

After a short and rather awkward lunch, we continued with our assignment, and when it finally was done, the boys looked really relieved to be released from each other. Mr. Cass studied our group with thoughtful eyes, but said nothing. He let us go home, and Edward and Sam hurried out the door. I was about to follow them out of the lobby when Alice took a hold of my t-shirt and held me back. I looked at her, confused by her action, and she gave me a meaningful look.

"Bella…"She began slowly, staring in to my eyes seriously. "Don't talk to them about it, don't ask them about it. Just wait until it passes."

Her request didn't surprise me, but I wanted to contradict. I _had_ to know what was going on here! I couldn't just stand here and do nothing while my two best friends fought!

"Why can't I talk to them about it? I want to know what it is so I can help!"

Alice suddenly laughed, like what I had said was funny, and then placed a hand on my shoulder. "Trust me, you don't want to know what it is." she said, like it almost was ironic that _I _was asking what it was about, and then, as sudden as she had laughed, she stopped and stared passed me with vacant eyes.

"Damn it!" she swore, and I was just about to ask her what it was when she rushed passed me and out the door. I followed her, and I saw what her goal was; the two fighting boys in the parking lot.

"Take it back!" Sam screamed as he threw himself at Edward, whose face was twisted in anger. They hit each other with fists and feet, and they screaming continued. Mr. Cass, who had been standing in the lobby, hurried outside himself, and ran towards them.

"Hey, cut it off! NOW!" He yelled, his loud voice echoing through the very empty parking lot. Only a few people were there, and they were staring at the scene curiously, wondering what was happening. They weren't alone with that wonder. He ripped Sam away from Edward, who hurried up from the ground, and it almost looked like he was coming after him but Alice was already there, holding him into his place. She may be little, but her strength was greater than any 12 year old I had ever met. Sam had some cuts and bruises too, and I was sure they were going to be covered in ugly purple bruises tomorrow.

"He started it!" Edward screamed, his nose bleeding. I felt how blood escaped my face and the world around me began to spin a little.

Mr. Cass told him something in retort, but I couldn't hear what it was; my ears were ringing too badly. I kept breathing through my mouth, not wanting to catch the smell of it. Alice, who had been holding Edward, was suddenly by my side, and her face was covered with concern and annoyance.

"Come on; let's get you home."

***later***

Alice had left the two troublemaking boys with Mr. Cass, and instead helped me home before I passed out in the middle of the street. Everyone knew I was weak when it came to blood: even the slightest cut made me nauseous and dizzy. We had hopped on the first bus home, and then spent the ride in silence.

"Feeling any better?" she asked after a while, letting me recover from my weak stomach.

"Yeah." I answered as I looked out the window. It was such a beautiful day today… the sun was shining, the temperature was nice…and it was now ruined because of Sam and Edward's fight. I couldn't appreciate the good weather now; it felt outright silly to do so when my two friends had fought each other bloody on the parking lot!

I sighed, the thought of them saddening me even more, and instead looked back at Alice, who was watching me thoughtfully in silence.

"Are you certain that they'll be friends again? That all of this is going to end well?" I asked her, and she gave me a reassuring smile.

"I'm 100 % sure. Don't worry Bella; they'll be alright." Her confidence was a little reassuring, but I was still worried. What if they didn't? What if they just continued to fight and it ended with the two of them never being friends again?

As we reached our station, I just wanted to go to my room and mope. But Alice forced me to follow her to her house, even though it was just 5 minutes away, maybe less. She chattered on about all kinds of things, but she avoided any topic that had anything with Edward or Sam to do.

I followed her to her door, and just before she went inside, she gave me a quick hug.

"Thanks Bella. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" she said, but it wasn't a question. She gave me a small kiss on the cheek, and then hurried inside, closing the door after her. Her endless talking and carefree behavior _had_ cheered me up a little the last few minutes, but I was anything but content.

I walked away from the Cullen's grandiose house, just on my way back to my own, when I spotted something in the shadows of the road. In the turn of the road, right before the trail that lead to Edward and my small meadow, stood a woman, 8 or 9 meters away.

The sun was shining brightly down at the trees, but their big leaves shielded her away from the sun, and instead casted a warm and greenish light to the shadows. The woman was watching me with her familiar yellow eyes, and I suddenly realized where I recognized her from. That dream of that woman that had carried me through the forest 5 months back when I had run into a tree, losing my consciousness. Her strawberry blonde hair ruffled as the wind blew, and even though it was summer, her skin was awfully pale, almost like mine. Her face was utterly beautiful, but the way she watched me… there was something eerie about it.

The woman smiled at me, her beautiful pink lips twisting upwards, and I stared at her in bewilderment. It _was_ her; there was no doubt about it. It was the same woman I ….at least I _think_ I dreamed about her, that night I got lost in the woods. But she couldn't be a dream now; I was staring at her, fully awake.

I stared at her in wonder, and thought of what I was going to do. I was standing in the bright shining sun, but I wanted to walk over to her. I wanted to thank her, but for some reason, it felt unsafe to go over there, leaving the sunshine. The thought was strange, but it didn't leave me, and instead I held my place.

"You…you saved me." I whispered to myself, knowing she couldn't hear me, but when her smile grew and she nodded her head, I frowned. How could she hear that? We were 9 meters apart! Maybe…maybe the wind just carried the sound with it.

"Thank you." I said, this time a little louder, and the woman nodded in acknowledgement.

"You're welcome." She smiled, and I was just going to walk over to her, deciding that the strange instinct in my head was stupid; the sun couldn't protect me from any harm. Besides she wouldn't hurt me; I was sure of it.

But just as I had decided to take a step forward, she suddenly disappeared. I blinked, looking around the area to see where she had gone, but she was nowhere to be found. It was she had disappeared in a blink of an eye.

But the strange thing was, I knew I wasn't imagining it. I _knew_ she had been there…

Shaking my head, I turned around and decided I should go home. My mind, that before had been busy only with thoughts concerning Edward and Sam's fight, now only thought of the woman I had seen. Who was she? How had she disappeared like that? Thoughts about her spun inside my head, and they never seemed to be able to leave my mind.

I reached my house and lay down on our lawn, my mind still filled with questions about the mystery lady. Finally I sighed, and decided to momentarily forget all of the troubles and dilemmas going on in my life, and instead just enjoy this perfect summer day.


	8. My World Is Spinning

**A/N: Sorry for not updating, I've been ultra, super busy! Thank you for reviewing ****crawfish4****, ****OlYMPICOVEN & twirob, I really appreciate it!**

**Here's chapter 8, I hope you enjoy it :)**

**Chapter 8: My world is spinning **

_**September**_

It's September. September the thirteenth to be exact, the day of my birthday. Yesterday, I had officially been in Alaska for a year. Emmett wanted to arrange a big party together with Alice, making a cake and all, but luckily Edward and the Hales prevented it from happening. The only way they managed to convince the two was that I couldn't have two big parties two days in a row, so instead I should just get one huge. That made the two siblings even more hyped up, so every second during school, Alice reminded me what fun we were going to have. Oh joy…

"Oh come on! It's going to be fun, I promise!" Alice said pouting as we walked to the bus, her spikey hair arranged perfectly as always. School had (unfortunately) ended, and I knew what was waiting for me.

Now we were in the 6th grade, and middle school was a lot different than elementary school. Going from being the oldest to being the youngest was hardly fun, and some of the older students often enjoyed to tease the scared sixth graders, showing them where their places were. And even though our old school building where just right next to the new one, they were completely different. No finger paintings decorated the corridors we walked through day by day to get to our classes. Instead, information about different school activities draped the dull green walls.

"You said that about the makeover too. And the dinner party you arranged for the girls in our class. " I said, reminding her of the total disaster that happed a few weeks ago. Esme banned Alice from using the kitchen after that incident.

"Hey, I thought we both agreed we wouldn't bring that up anymore." Alice protested, blushing slightly and her walk became much stiffer than before.

"And I thought we both agreed that we wouldn't make others do things they didn't want to do on their birthdays." I said grimily, and she sighed.

"Bella, stop being so melodramatic." We both sat down on the bench and she gave me a firm look. "This will be fun, for all of us." She said and her face broke into a sly smile. "You're just cranky because you don't know what we're going to do."

"You know I hate surprises. _Especially _birthday surprises."

"Well, get used to it because I'm not going anywhere." She stuck out her tongue at me stubbornly, a smile playing in the edge of her lips, and I sighed whilst shaking my head. I knew I was going to lose this argument. The birthday surprise (whatever it was) was going to happen neither I wanted it or not.

"Bella, there you are!" a familiar voice called, and I turned around in my seat to see who had called my name. Edward, walking side by side with Sam, waved happily, and both of them hurried over to us.

"Finally, I thought you both had died somewhere in a ditch." Alice scoffed, and Edward smiled.

"No my dear sister, but I thank you for your concern." Edward's velvet smooth voice was drowned in sarcasm, and Alice rolled her eyes. Edward took no notice of her, and continued. "Sam here slowed us down a little." He gave him a small grin, and then ruffled his sandy blonde hair.

"I just had to check on something…" he mumbled shyly, blushing, but you could see that a hint of a smile played on his pink lips. Edward and Sam's fight three months ago was well forgotten between all of us (except me that is). The mood had been a little bit chilly between the two boys a few days after the visit to the museum, but one rainy Wednesday morning, they acted like nothing had happened. They smiled when they saw each other, and treated each other like the friends they were. When I had asked them (including Alice) what the fight had been all about, they just said that there was noting I had to worry about. It almost felt like bullying, being left out like that, but after a while I gave up. None of them gave in when it came to telling me, and in the end I decided it didn't matter. They were friends again; that was all that mattered. But sometimes I caught myself wondering what the big fight had been all about.

"Well, I'm glad you're here. You _should've_ been here in time though." Alice scolded, looking mostly at Sam as she did. Ever since the fight, I had noticed that Alice had treated Sam more coldly than she used to, but the reason behind it was still a mystery.

I sighed and looked at Edward. "Can you please tell me what the surprise is?" I begged him, hoping he would give in but his lips twisted into an amused grin that told me that he wasn't going to anytime soon.

"Bellie, I could not possibly tell you what we're going to do; then it wouldn't be a surprise!"

"Yeah, yeah…" I sighed, irritated that the Cullen's stuck to their stupid secret to the end. I looked around, gazing after the Hales and Emmett, whom all should've been here by now, and frowned at Alice. "Where are Emmett and the twins?"

Alice looked at me, almost surprised that I had changed the topic so suddenly, and then shrugged. "Their lessons ended an hour before us, so they went home and began to prepare everything."

Edward laughed just as the bus rounded the corner. "Bella, don't look so scared, this is going to be great."

Yeah…_great…_

***Later***

After spending what felt like 5 hours inside Alice's room getting ready, we were finally done. Like the weather report had promised, the weather was surprisingly hot to be in September, and despite my arguments, Alice found no problems why I shouldn't wear a dress in a moment like this.

"You look fabulous, I promise." She said with a wink as we exited the room, and then together we walked down the stairs. I was used to the makeovers now, since they happened more often, but they were still as horrible as always.

The first persons I saw when I walked down the stairs were my parents oddly enough, and their faces lit up the second they saw me.

"Honey you look so pretty!" mom gushed, and enfolded her arms around me. Dad made a quiet sound in agreement, but didn't say much more; talking was one of the many specialties my mother was better at than my father.

"Thank mom, dad…but what are you doing here?" I asked, confused. Alice had said that she had talked to my parents about the birthday plan and that they had 'totally approved' it, but never really understood that my parents were _part_ of the plan.

"Alice invited us." Mom said and gestured towards Alice, who was smirking secretly to herself, and as soon as her name was mentioned, she smiled gleefully towards us, and skipped to my side.

"Of course your parents were welcome to be here on your 12th birthday Bella; I couldn't just kidnap you with us without bringing them!" she said, and Mom and dad laughed.

"Ah, I see you two are ready." Someone said softly, and I instantly recognized it as Esme's gentle voice. I turned to my left and saw how Esme and Carlisle appeared together in the hallway, casually yet fashionably dressed. When I thought about it, everyone was casually dressed, even me. That made me relax a little, since this meant we weren't going to eat out on some fancy restaurant. But it also raised my curiosity; where were we going?

"We should get going, don't you think?" Carlisle suggested, and then called after the rest of the Cullen's, the Hales, and Sam.

***Later***

Since we were quite many, we weren't able to all ride in the same car, so I rode with my parents, Sam and Emmett whilst the others took Carlisle's car. Anna and Eric, the Hale twins' parents where in Milan at the moment for a photo-shoot, so they couldn't be here, but one day before my birthday a postcard had arrived to me from them, wishing me a happy birthday.

The ride to our destination (wherever that was) was anything but quiet. Emmett ignored all of my questions about the surprise, and instead began to hum/sing along to the radio (and he didn't do it quietly either). The others didn't say much, but my mother held a few quiet discussions with my father.

When we finally arrived to our destination (which were located much further away than I thought), I practically dropped my chin in surprise. In front of us, shining brightly with lights, where a Tivoli.

"Happy birthday Bella!" All of them said in unison, and it took me a while to regain my voice, which had been shaken by the great shock I suffered.

"Thank…Thank you _so _much…" I trailed off, and my parents laughed.

"You're welcome honey. Alice saw an advertisement about it in the city and suggested that we all should go, since it was on your birthday." Renée explained, and Alice grinned.

"I told you it would be great." She said, and I laughed.

After paying the entrance fee, the kids separated from the parents. Carlisle, Esme and my parents told us that we were going to meet them at the entrance in 3 hours, and when we received a little bit of money each to spend at the booths, we all ran off together, leaving the parents to have fun by their selves. We all decided that we should start by riding the teacups and luckily, the line was short when we arrived there.

"Come on Bella, you me and Sam can ride one." Edward suggested, and without waiting for an answer, he took Sam's and my hand and began to walk towards one of the teacups. Emmett, Alice and the twins shared one, and when all of the people standing in line were placed, we all began to spin. Laugher, lights and people in cups spun around us as we grabbed onto the wheel in the middle, turning it as much as we could. Adrenaline pumped through my blood, and despite the dizziness that started to creep up on me, I laughed to all my content.

When the ride ended (which was all too soon), we all fought to walk a straight line towards the exit. Sam and I were the only ones who looked a little green, but smiles were fixed on our faces, so we were hardly having a bad time.

"What now?" I asked, and Emmett, who didn't look affected by the ride at all, grinned and pointed at a large construction ahead of us that looked more deadly than fun.

"What about that one?" He said, and all of us looked at him with questioning looks. Just by looking at it, I felt slightly nauseous.

"Let's try something less…" Alice began slowly trying to find some way to shut down her brother's idea without hurting his feelings, but before she could finish, Rose spoke.

"Likely to kill us all." She concluded, and Emmett looked at her.

"Hey, it's not _that_ dangerous, it…." The glare he received from Rose silenced him, and honestly, that was probably the first time anyone had silenced one of Emmett's crazy ideas with just one look. "Ok fine, we'll ride something else." He sighed in defeat, and Rose smiled in triumphal.

"How about the fun house?" Jasper suggested, and pointed at the small house next to the murder machine Emmett wanted to ride, and we all agreed it was a good idea. We walked through the mazes together and laughed at all the things that we saw, and when we exited, my stomach hurt from all the laughing.

"Let's ride the rollercoaster next!" Emmett suggested, and without waiting for an answer, he grabbed Rose's legs and flung her over his shoulder and proceeded to run over to the large construction. The rest of us stared after them, listening at Rose's terrified screams and then followed, laughing. I looked over at Sam and as I studied his face, I saw the hesitance and slight fear that hid behind his strained smile.

"Are you okay?" I asked him, and his nervous eyes flashed to mine. I grabbed his hand, but the second my skin connected with his, he pulled it away. That's when I saw it, the first sign.

"Oh my god, what happened? I exclaimed, and the others in our party stopped and turned to see what we were doing (except Rose and Emmett, who both were way ahead). On his arm, a firm bruise was blooming underneath his faire skin and when he noticed what I was referring to, he hid his arm behind his back so we wouldn't see.

"It's nothing." He mumbled, and his already colorless face turned even paler.

"Sam, are you alright?" Edward asked, and Sam looked at him. His gaze lasted long as he stared at him hesitantly, and after a few seconds of silence, his eyes hardened and he looked away.

"It's nothing, okay? Just forget about it." He walked away from us with firm steps, and all of us stared after him with confused looks.

"What's with him?" Alice asked, her golden-brown eyes following him with worry. Confusion hung in the air, and after a few seconds of silence, Edward finally spoke.

"Let's go. We won't bring it up unless he want to."

I stared at him with horror, not believing his words. "What?" My exclamation stopped the others in their footsteps and they turned around and looked at me. "We can't just ignore this! What if something serious happened?"

Edward gave me a long glance, like he was thinking what he was going to say, and then walked over to me and gave me a small smile. "It's going to be okay Bella. It's probably just an accident that he doesn't want to tell us about; you know how Sam is. Besides, it will just get worse if we force it out of him so let's just continue and celebrate your birthday, okay?" he said, and after a bit of hesitation, I took his hand and followed him to the rollercoaster.

Sam, Emmett and Rosalie were already there, and when Sam met my eyes, he looked down at his feet, avoiding my gaze. I unconsciously watched him the whole time we stood in line, and when it was almost time for us to ride, Sam sighed, and then took my hand and dragged me aside, away from the others. They all saw what happened, and stared after us as we rounded the corner of some tent, and when we were out of their sight, Sam turned around and looked at my face.

"I'm…I'm sorry I made you worry. I'm fine, I promise, this was just some silly accident that happened last week."

I stared at his blue eyes in wonder, and then a small smile grew on my lips. Relief filled my body, and I sighed happily. "I'm glad you're okay, I was worried something had happened."

Sam gave me a shy smile, and shook his head. "No, I'm okay. Let's get back to the others so we won't miss our ride." We swiftly walked back (avoiding to run so I wouldn't fall) and then met up with the others who luckily hadn't gone on the ride yet. Edward met my eyes as we came back, and a smile entered his glorious face, like he knew what had happened. When I came to his side, he chuckled and softly whispered in my ear so no one else would hear. "I told you he was okay."

After standing in line a short amount of time, it was finally our time to ride. Edward and I shared a cart, Sam and Alice took the one behind us, the twins took the one ahead of us and Emmett rode alone in the front, pumped like never before.

"This is going to be _epic_!" He shouted as the ride slowly but surely crept to the top, and the higher we came, the more uncertain I felt.

"Edward, this doesn't feel like such a good ide-" My words stuck in my throat as we began to plunge downhill, towards (what I felt) a certain death. Edward grabbed my hand as I screamed in utter fear and exaltation and laughed in joy. I couldn't believe I had been so stupid and agreed to ride this machine that would kill me, but even though I was convinced that I was going to die at any second, I felt the warmth of Edward's hand the whole ride.

When the carts stopped, we all stepped out slowly, the adrenaline still high in our systems. Edward's hand was still holding mine when we walked to the exit, and when we met the others outside, there were all mixed feelings running around in the group.

"That. Was. AWESOME!" Emmett howled and laughed a booming laugh.

"What? That was boring." Rosalie said, rolling her eyes and that was all that Emmett needed to start an argument about it. Jasper was smiling next to Alice, both of them obviously content but next to them, standing a little bit outside of the group, was a pale, almost green looking boy who looked anything but happy.

"Sam, are you alright?" I asked, frowning at his ill-looking face, and he groaned in a response.

"I don't think riding that …was a very good idea…" he answered in a strained voice, sweat glistening in his face.

"Maybe we should take it a little easy from now on…" Edward suggested, but got shut down by Emmett.

"What? We've just gotten started and you want to quit now? That's weak, man." He said, pouting.

"Alright, how about this? Jasper, Sam and I can go and take it easy on a bench or something and the rest of you can continue to ride stuff." Alice said.

"Great, I'm up for it!" Emmett agreed with his sister, his sour mood gone with the wind.

"But leaving you he-" I began to disagree, feeling bad for them but Alice shook her head and interrupted me firmly.

"No Bella, It's decided. Now go and have some fun, we'll meet up with you later."

Jasper gave me a soft smile, reassuring me it was okay, and after giving Sam a last glance, I followed the others. I felt bad just leaving them there, but I knew that Alice wouldn't allow me to do anything else than to follow her plan.

"Are you feeling okay? We can take a break riding stuff and go to a stall instead." Edward suggested as we followed Rosalie and Emmett around, looking for the next thing to do. Rose turned around, and gave me a worried look.

"Are you feeling ill as well?" she asked, and I shook my head.

"No, I just…want to take a small break from riding stuff, that's all."

Her face broke out into a relieved smile, and she looked back at Emmett, who was scanning the area after something to ride. "It seems like it's just going to be you and me then." She grinned and Emmett chuckled.

"Oh, I'm going to make you feel sick before we've even started." Emmett said threateningly, and she raised her eyebrow challengingly.

"Really? I have a hard time believing that."

Emmett chuckled evilly, and together, the two of them walked away towards something tall and scary. I looked at Edward, and we laughed quietly to ourselves.

"So, what do you want to do?" Edward asked as the others had disappeared around the corner, and I shrugged.

"Anything is fine." I told him, and he smiled.

"How about I win you a birthday present?" he said and inched his head towards a ball throwing stall where the prize was a cute stuffed bunny. I chuckled.

"You _do _know it's practically impossible to win something at those things."

Edward grinned his crooked smile and chuckled. "We'll see about that won't we?"

***Later***

I laughed as we sat down in the Ferris wheel, and shook my head. The sun had already settled and the lights around the ride shone brightly in the beautiful and warm night.

"I can't believe you actually won…" I said once again, and looked at the cute bunny in my lap he had won for me. Edward chuckled as well, and stared at me with his emerald green eyes.

"I told you I would, didn't I? So, what should his name be?" he asked, and I stared at the stuffed animal in my hands, several names popping in my head.

"How about…" I began hesitantly. "Mr. Honey Bunny?" I said, but sounded more like a question than a suggestion. Edward laughed, probably noticing that as well, and nodded.

"Mr. Honey Bunny it is." We lapsed into silence, instead just listening at the screams, laughs and chatters of the other visitors that rode the rides in the melody filled Tivoli. The Ferris wheel slowly but surely rose higher and higher and I sighed happily and leaned my head on Edward's shoulder. Like reading my mind, he put his arm around me and his slow breaths were the only sound I heard.

"Did you have fun today?" he asked, and I smiled.

"Yes, more than you can imagine. Thank you."

**Playlist: She's Got You High – Mumm-ra**


	9. I'm Burning

**A/N: I know it's a little late and I'm sorry about that. This chapter is really just based on the other week when I was feeling terribly sick :S If any of you are sick right now, I hope you'll get better, and I hope you'll enjoy this chapter!**

**Thank you ****crawfish4, twirob & OlYMPICOVEN for reviewing, it really made me happy when I was down with a 40°C fever (which is like 104° in farenheight ;)**

**Chapter 9: I'm burning**

_**November**_

I stumbled down the stairs with much effort, and as soon as I reached the bottom, I leaned heavily against the banister for support.

"Bella! Go back to bed, you have a terrible fever!" Mom scolded me as she saw me from the kitchen, and hurried out of her chair to help me get back upstairs.

"But… but the trip…" I mumbled, the words barely audible as they exited my mouth. My head was throbbing and the fever made my every thought fuzzy and unclear, but I knew one thing for sure; I did _not_ want to miss this trip.

"No buts! There won't be any trips for you anytime soon, young lady." Renée said in her most severe voice she could manage and took my hand in support. With her help, she managed to get me upstairs back to my bed, and after taking my temperature once again, she sighed.

"106 degrees…that's not good honey, that's not good at all. Even though it's Saturday today, Charlie went to work, and I have to go into town for a few errands and I'm afraid that they will keep me busy all day…" Mom's face radiated with concern and worry, and I managed to give her a weak smile in response.

"Mom, I'll be fine. I'm 12 now remember? You don't need to stay home and take care of me; I'll be fine." I told her, trying to sound as healthy as I could, but just as I had ended my little speech I began to cough hysterically, which only made her worry more.

"12 or not, I don't think I should leave you all alone with a cold like this. What if you need food? Or a wet towel for your forehead? And what if you vomit?" I saw how the hysterical expression in her face began to grow more for each second and she counted up reason after reason for her to stay. I sighed heavily at her worrisome behavior.

"I'll be fine mom, don't worry."

She stared at me with her eyebrows burrowed together like they always were when she was thinking intently about something and then suddenly, her eyes lit up and a knowing smile spread on her pink lips.

Without another word, she swiftly exited my room, and before I could call out and ask her what she was doing, I heard how she answered someone.

"Yes, hello? Oh hello Alice, nice to speak to you too... Is your mother there? I was wondering if I could have a word with her… yes, I'll wait…" her monologue made me realize she was speaking on the phone.

"Hello Esme! Are you free today? I know this may be too much to ask, but I need to ask you for a favor. No, this is not about me, this is about Bella…" I heard how she and Esme spoke for a while, and after a few minutes, mom returned to my room and smiled softly at me.

"Ok honey, here's what we'll do. I will go away and do my errands, and in the meanwhile, Esme will come here every once in a while to take care of you. How about that?"

I tried to respond with something that could at least be associated with words, but the only thing that came out of me was a weak groan, and she worriedly patted my forehead.

"I know honey, but I'll be back as a soon as possible. I love you so much." She said and kissed me on my cheek and then, she disappeared through my bedroom door, calling goodbye over her shoulder and telling me that there was breakfast ready downstairs if I wanted any. I grimaced at just the thought of food, and threw the quilt over my head just as I heard her close the front door shut and lock it behind her.

I coughed once again, my throat protesting with pain and I reached after another tissue that mom had placed on my bedside table. I can't believe this was happening. Sam, Edward and the rest of the Cullen's had planned a fun trip to the ice rink to go ice skating, celebrating the first snow of the year, and of course I went and caught a cold. I had felt a little bit down the day before but I had ignored it, thinking it was nothing. Now look at me! I was a wreck covered in snot.

I coughed once more and sniffled uncomfortably. The last two months after my birthday had been great. After the Tivoli, I hadn't seen any more signs of bruises or cuts on Sam, which felt reliving. I trusted that Sam spoke the truth when he said he had had an accident when he got those injuries, but I couldn't help but to feel troubled and worried about it afterwards. But it turned out to just be an accident after all, so I let it go with ease.

Another interesting thing that had happened was that Rose and Emmett started to go out. You know, go out as in _date_. It was really random, the way we found out. I was spending the day at the Cullen's house together with the Hales and then suddenly, Emmett just rushed into the room, shouting 'Rose and I are going on a date now, just so you now!' and then he disappeared through the front door, Rose soon behind him. All of us were really surprised by it (except for Alice, who apparently wasn't shocked at all) but after a few days, all of us just went with it. They were really cute together, walking around in the school corridors, holding each other's hands and giving each other small, unexpected kisses once in a while.

I closed my eyes and felt how my dizzy mind spun in all kinds of different directions. I thought of the Cullen's, of Alaska, of Forks and all of my friends that I had there…

Suddenly, everything around me started to fade, and a moment to late I understood that I was falling asleep. My surroundings changed, and suddenly, I was standing alone in complete darkness. Out of nowhere, colors flashed and exploded around me like fireworks in the sky, their appearance warming the air around me uncomfortably, and I felt how my heart began to race in my chest with fear. I began to run, hoping to get away from the scorching hot explosions, but as I started running, the colors followed me, continuously blasting like bombs with no sounds. I knew it was a dream, because somehow, I was still conscious of my body. I couldn't open my eyes nor could I move any part of my body but I could hear my surroundings in the room as I ran with fear in my mind from the exploding colors.

"Shhh, you'll wake her up…" A gentle voice spoke softly from somewhere around me, and in my dream, I stopped and listened. I heard how the floor slightly creaked as someone's footsteps travelled across the room, and I tried to open my eyes to see who was there, but they wouldn't open; I was trapped in my half sleeping dream. It was like I wasn't in control of my body anymore.

"How is she? She looks awfully pale." A worried male voice asked, and I felt my heart skip a beat. It was _him_. He was here, in my room. Desperately, I tried to open my eyes, to get a glimpse of him instead of these horrifying colors, but nothing happened. I let out a weak groan as a mixture of yellow and green exploded beside me, causing a heat wave to rush over me once again.

"What's wrong? Is she in pain!" Another worried male voice asked, sounding like he was on the verge of panic, and I instantly recognized it as Sam's. Someone touched my forehead gently, his or her hand feeling soothingly cold against my warm forehead, and then the person sighed.

"No, let's hope she isn't. Her fever seems to be worse though, judging of what her mother had described." Esme soothingly explained, making me realize it was her hand that was resting on my forehead and then she caressed my cheek softly.

"Alice, run down to the kitchen and get me a wet towel for her forehead." Esme demanded, and before anyone could say anything else, a pair of light footsteps travelled through my room and then dashed down the stairs. The thought of something to cool the heat the explosions in my dream caused me made me relax a little, but as another heat wave rushed over me, I once again groaned, trying to call something out. More and more explosions wavered around me now, and the way they flashed before my eyes again and again made my head feel extremely dizzy.

"Make…make the colors…stop…" I mumbled, trying to tell them to make the colors go away, but I couldn't make the sentence complete.

"She's delirious." Esme said again, touching my forehead, and after a few short seconds I felt someone grabbing my hand, squeezing it reassuringly.

"It's okay Bella, we're here." Edward said soothingly, his voice much closer now, and even though I was scared and confused, his voice made me feel somewhat relaxed, just knowing that he was there.

"Here you go." Alice suddenly said, sounding like she was right beside me, and before I could figure out what she was talking about, something cool and wet was placed on my forehead. Everything in my mind froze, shocked from the sudden cold cloth that had been placed on my head, but after a few seconds everything slowed down. The exploding colors in my dreams all slowly faded like a fire going out, in the end just glowed vaguely around me in the darkness. I sighed happily, glad that the heat slowly but surely started to fade, and I felt how someone softly caressed my face.

"Poor child, coming down with such a bad cold as this…" Esme said softly, but for some odd reason, it felt like she was further away than before. At first, it puzzled me, and I wondered how it could be, since I knew it was her hand resting on my cheek. But then I decided it didn't matter. My entire body was now relaxed and soft as overcooked spaghetti, and the confusion and dizziness slowly faded along with the heat.

A soft ring suddenly began to sound, echoing through the room, and without a warning, Esme removed her and walked away across the hardwood floor.

"It's Carlisle. I should probably take this… Hello?" Her voice drifted away, fading more and more for each second, and after a few seconds, her voice was completely gone. In my dream, the glowing colors around me started to fade as well, and without a warning, they all disappeared, leaving me alone in complete darkness and silence…

***Later***** **

I did not know how much time had passed when I woke up. The previous dream about the exploding colors along with the voices that surrounded me still lingered my head, but I knew for a fact that I had been sleeping, even though it only felt like I just had closed my eyes for a few minutes. I slowly opened my eyes, taking in my surroundings. The light outside had changed since this morning, which told me that at least a few hours must've passed since I convinced mom that I was okay staying home alone. My room was empty, and for a few seconds, I started to think that the voices were part of my dream as well. A weight settled in my chest, and even though I didn't want to admit it, I felt sad about it. I honestly believed that they all had come to visit me…

I sighed, but the second the large amount of air had left my mouth, I instantly regretted it, and then began to cough manically, causing my body to shake. My head jerked towards my chest as I continually coughed, and the sudden movement caused something that I hadn't noticed to fall down on my eyes. I cleared my throat halfheartedly as my cough-attack had come to its end, and then removed the object that lay across my eyes. The lukewarm, wet cloth that had been lying on my forehead was now resting in my hands, and as I stared at it questionably, wondering how it had gotten there, someone suddenly appeared in my threshold.

"Oh, you're finally awake now! How are you feeling?" Alice asked as she skipped gracefully to my side and then softly touched my forehead for my temperature. "Your temperature is much better now! I knew the cloths would help." She said as she stared at me, and I looked back bewildered.

"It…it wasn't a dream…" I mumbled. Alice stared at me whilst frowning, and then shrugged, figuring I was probably still woozy from the fever, and then smiled warmly.

"Do you want something to eat? Edward is downstairs making some chicken soup for you."

"Edward is also here?" I asked, feeling how the weight of sorrow that had placed itself inside my chest disappeared within seconds, and my heart began to beat faster with excitement. It wasn't a dream; they were all here…

"Yeah, It's me, Edward and Sam. Rose and Emmett decided to go on another date since the whole ice-skating plan didn't work out. Mom was here to earlier too, but she had to go to the hospital to give something to Dad that he had left at home." Her words confirmed that it hadn't been a dream, and like he had heard his voice, Sam appeared in doorway and carefully peeked in.

"How is she?" He asked carefully, his voice no louder than a whisper, and Alice giggled.

"She's awake and lucid." Alice said with a grin, and Sam looked at me with worried eyes.

"How are you Bella?" He asked as he walked into the room and then sat down on the far end of my bed.

I cleared my throat before I spoke, but it was still a hoarse croak that came out. "I'm better. I've still got a fever, but it's not as awful now."

"That's great…!" He trailed off in relief, his face relaxing in satisfaction. "Do you want anything to eat? Edward is almost done with the soup." Sam asked, and just as I was about to answer, my stomach growled loudly. Alice and Sam laughed as I blushed furiously, and Alice nodded.

"I think we got our answer."

***Later*******

"Wow…you're better than I thought…" I trailed off as I took one last sip of the hot soup that Edward had prepared for me, and then placed the bowl on the small table that the 3 of them had prepared by my bedside. He scoffed; looking teasingly offensive and then shook his head.

"I'm going to take that as a compliment." He said in a melodramatic voice, and the rest of us laughed. Edward had prepared chicken soup for the others and me and since Alice was very consistent that I should stay in bed, they had prepared me some lunch in bed. I never got used to the way the Cullen's sometimes unnecessarily pampered and spoiled their friends.  
"You really should, this is amazing! Where did you learn to cook like this?"

Alice and Edward looked at me with the Cullen's infamous "are-you-stupid-look", and Alice raised her eyebrow.

"Our Mom is _Esme Cullen, _a housewife mom who has written 3 cookbooks and whose favorite hobby is to bake. We have 50 different cookbooks in our house and mom just bought _another_ blender because she thought it would be cute if we had 3, one for each of her children. Basically what I'm trying to say is that in the Cullen household, you're introduced to cooking as soon as you're capable of holding a spoon on your own." Alice said, her voice deadly serious as she stared deeply into my eyes with her yellow-brown ones, and the rest of us laughed.

"Well, when you put it like that, it makes sense." I said and laughed again, but unfortunately, the laughter sent me into another death cough attack and my body began to shake as I coughed violently.

"You should probably rest some more…" Edward mused as Alice helped me sit up straight in my bed, and I shook my head.

"No, it's fine." I told him stubbornly, but my voice sounded like it belonged to an eighty year-old chain-smoker instead of the twelve year-old girl I was.

"You should rest Bella." Edward repeated, his voice much sterner than before, and I had I feeling he wouldn't give up until he won this fight.

"But-"I tried, but it was hopeless.

"But nothing! Get some sleep so you can get better." Alice said and threw a pillow in my face before she disappeared through the door, taking my bowl with her. The rest of us stared after her a few seconds more than necessary, all a little shocked over her sudden act, but the astonishment soon faded and Edward rose from his seat beside my bedside.

"She's right. Get some sleep and we'll see you when you wake up." He said, his promise averting the heavy feeling inside my chest to appear, and I locked my gaze with his desperately.

"Do you promise?" I asked, my voice almost a faint whisper because of the embarrassment it caused me to say it, but he just smiled a gentle smile and ruffled my hair in the progress.

"Yeah, I promise." His green eyes watched me gently, almost fondly, and I don't know why, but the way he was staring at me trigged something inside of me, and my cheeks slowly but surely heated in embarrassment. He smiled his trademark, crooked smile before he and Sam started to walk out of my room, and as both of them exited I felt how my heart raced inside my chest. _Why did I blush like that? It made no sense. And the way my heart just raced…it felt like I was having a heart attack!_

"Sleep well Bella." Sam said whilst smiling gently and then carefully closed the door after him.

As soon as the door was closed, I crawled down under my covers and hid my face in my hands. My cheeks were still hot, and as I took slow and deep breaths, my heart started to calm down. I sighed and laid my head on my pillow and then closed my eyes firmly.

_It __must__ be the fever._

***Later***

As I slept, I dreamed. My dream took many different turns and directions, making me happy and excited one seconds and puzzled and confused the next. But as time passed, my dream stopped. I waited for another dream to appear, but nothing came to me. It was more like I was wavering between awake and asleep. I could've sworn it was a dream judging by the way my mind felt hazy and unclear, but as time passed I could hear my surroundings in my bedroom, but just like my color-exploding dream, it couldn't open my eyes.

I sighed mentally, not really wanting another fever dream to tire me out more, and just as I wished to go back to the dream filled, resting sleep, I head voices.

"…you don't know that." Edward said. At first, I was happy. He was here, near me. But then my happiness disappeared. His voice was gruff and almost menacing and hearing him speak like that made me sad and a little bit scared. Why was he talking like this, and whom was he speaking to?

I got my answer almost as soon as I had questioned it, and Sam's low yet curt voice filled the silence.

"Why not? There _is_ a possibility, you know."

Silence hung in the air for a few seconds, and then Edward retorted coldly. "It's still her choice. You can't force her." I listened, worried yet intrigued with their conversation. What were they talking about, and who was this girl?

"Of course I know that. But as long as I love her I will keep fighting; I don't care that you love her too." Sam said, his voice ringing with determination, and his words echoed into the silence as I drifted into a deeper sleep.

***Later***

It was the sound of our front door that woke me up. I stirred in my bed, not entirely awake, and then frowned. My room was completely dark, no longer provided with the light from the sun that seemed to have gone down hours ago, and there was no one there.

"Edward…Sam?" I called, hoping I would get an answer from them, but it was not them who answered me. Their names reminded me of the dream I had just had, but I didn't remember much of it. The only thing I could clearly recall was that they boys were fighting. But of what I don't remember…

"Bella?" Charlie called, his voice sounding surprised that I was awake. I heard how he walked up the stairs and it didn't take long until he entered my room and came to my bedside.

"How are you Bells? I heard how you were sick all day…" He said, and then he felt my forehead.

"Where are Edward and the others?" I asked, still remembering the promise he had made me before I had fallen asleep, and my father raised his eyebrows.

"Edward, Sam and Alice? They just left; I let them out the front door. Sam and Edward were both very persistent to stay, but Alice and I convinced them that it was time for them to go home."

Oh. So that's why they left… I sighed unhappily, and Charlie, who hadn't realized what the situation was about, mistook the sigh for sickness and once again felt my forehead.

"Well, you've still got a fever… How about I make us some porridge for dinner? René Isn't supposed to come home until another hour or so, her car ran out of gas on the way home." Dad explained and without waiting for an answer he left my room, closing the door after him and then rushed down the stairs to begin to prepare the dinner. I sighed, feeling a little bit disappointed that Edward and Sam and Alice wasn't here when I woke up (even though I knew that it had been my dad's fault) and I sighed as I walked up to my window and opened it, needing some fresh air to cool down my head. The outside was cold, my breaths becoming fog as it exited my mouth and on the ground there were still some snow from the last snowfall.

"Hey, it's Bella! Over here, Bella!" Someone called, and as my eyes followed the voice, I saw my three friends standing below on the road, smiling at me. It was Alice who had called me and the seconds our eyes met, she smiled happily.

"Sorry we had to leave, your dad kind of kicked us out." Edward said apologetically, and I smiled.

"It's okay, I understand. Thank you for taking care of me today, I really appreciate it." I Told them, and they all smiled back at me.

"You're welcome." They all said together, and the odd coincidence made us all laugh.

"Hey look!" Sam suddenly said as he held out his hands towards the sky. "It's snowing!"

I looked up towards the sky, and as Sam had said, small yet distinctive snowflakes drifted through the air, slowly soaring downwards towards earth, and I laughed as they landed and melted on my skin.

"Too bad you were sick today Bella; today was really a great day to go ice skating. But you'll probably be better next week, so let's go then, okay?" Alice said, and I nodded happily.

"I'd love to."

After we had said goodbye, I closed my window and watched them as they walked down the road, all heading home and I knew it wasn't because of my fever that my whole body was growing warm with happiness.


End file.
